Suddenley Everything Has Changed
by 23bjl23
Summary: When Haley's and the Scott boys parents went away on extended holiday Haley moved in with Nathan and Lucas. It wouldn't be a problem right? Wrong. Developing feelings between Nathan and Haley and a drunken night between the two leaves them with more...
1. Prologue

Prologue

**AN: Here is my new story!! It's a Naley story and completely AU! Let me know what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill, if I did we would be definitely seeing some more Naley loving!!**

**I do not own the title of this story either is a song by The Flaming Lips**

**Suddenly Everything Has Changed**

**Prologue**

The James' and the Scott's had been close friends for years. Jimmy and Lydia James had worked hard over the years putting five of their six kids through college and when their youngest, seventeen year old Haley finished her last year at high school at the end of the year and went off to college would finally be free. Dan and Deb had twin sons Lucas and Nathan, who were also just about to start their final year of high school.

When just a couple of months before Haley, Lucas and Nathan were to start their final year at high school, Dan Scott suffered a heart attack. Dan survived the heart attack but had been told by his Doctor to take it as a warning and to take it easy and relax. Dan and Deb along with Lydia and Jimmy had taken Dan's heart attack as a wake-up call and had decided to do something they had all been dreaming of doing for years; they both brought motor homes and planned on touring around the country.

Deciding that if they didn't do it immediately they probably wouldn't do it at all they talked to Haley, Lucas and Nathan and told them of their plans. It was decided that they would leave two weeks before school went back and that Haley would move into the Scott house and stay with Lucas and Nathan for the school year.

Dan and Deb and Lydia and Jimmy could not see any problems with the new living arrangements, Haley, Lucas and Nathan were best friends and extremely close, nothing could go wrong. Right? Wrong.

Suddenly everything changes and while their parents are away Haley, Lucas and Nathan struggle with their new found freedom and do what any unsupervised teenagers would do.

Lucas with the help on a certain brunette finds his wild side and decides to have a bit of fun for and change.

A drunken night leads to unexpected feeling between Nathan and Haley, and leaves them both with more than they counted on.


	2. We Might as Well Be Strangers

Chapter 1

**AN: I do not own One Tree Hill in any way!!**

**Nor do I own the title of this story it is a song by The Flaming Lips**

**Chapter 1**

**We Might as Well Be Strangers**

Nathan groaned burying his head deeper under the pillow trying to shut out the noise of either Lucas or Haley wandering around the house. It had been just over two weeks since his parents had gone off with Haley's on their 'trip,' sure that's what they were calling it, but if you asked Nathan they had still abandoned them.

It was only the third day of school and already Nathan was hating the fact that both Lucas and Haley were early risers. Nathan was not what you call a morning person and did everything he could to stay in bed till the last possible second.

As much as he loved having Haley as one of his best friends that didn't mean that them living together was a good idea. He wasn't sure how much more he could take of her bossing him around.

Throwing his pillow across the room Nathan jumped out of bed deciding that there was no point in trying to get any more sleep, he opened his door stepped out into the hallway and slammed his door shut again, hoping the two elephants heard it. He stalked down the hall to the bathroom and flung open the door. Only to be met with a sight he would not forget in a hurry.

Haley was just stepping out of the shower and reaching for her towel when the bathroom door opened suddenly.

Frozen to the spot Haley was too shocked to move as she saw Nathan's blue gaze taking in the sight of her wet and naked. When she saw the smirk on his face she snapped out of her statue impersonation picking up her towel and covering herself.

"Nathan….." Haley screeched

"What? Shit sorry." Nathan said turning around when he realised he'd been standing there ogling Haley.

"Jeeze Nathan, would it kill you to knock occasionally?" Haley said as she stormed passed him out of the bathroom.

"Next time maybe try locking the door." Nathan yelled back at her retreating form and slammed his second door of the morning.

Nathan knew one thing for sure his shower this morning would be a cold one. Shedding his boxers he jumped into the ice cold shower and thought to himself 'who knew that underneath her clothes Haley James was packing a body like that?' He wasn't sure if he should be amused, confused or embarrassed. He would have to apologise to her, if she was still talking him that was.

Haley was so embarrassed at being caught naked, but being caught naked by Nathan made it a hundred times worse. She wanted to die.

She had been living with Nathan and Lucas for just over two weeks now and things were a little strained.

The first week had been a bit of a disaster with her constantly picking up after Nathan and Lucas and running to the shop after they had eaten everything and left nothing for her. She'd sat them down after that and told them that she wasn't their maid or their mother and that if it was going to work with them all living together they would all have to work together to keep the house clean and tidy and fixing meals and doing the shopping.

Since then things had been a bit better with Lucas, but things with her and Nathan were worse, they fought constantly, and she had just about had enough of his constant bitching about everything from how early she woke up to what she cooked. It was ridiculous they'd been best friends for years but ever since she moved in, it was like they were strangers.

After careful consideration Haley decided that the problem was they were just too different with her being responsible and tidy and normal and Nathan being well, not.

Which brought her to her latest problem with Nathan, how the hell was she suppose to go down stairs now and face him after he'd seen her naked? And if you asked her he seemed to get a pretty good look too.

Stalking over to her closet she grabbed out a pair of jeans, a green tee and her green flip flops. She quickly got dressed and dried her hair deciding to leave it down. She grabbed her books and her bag, checking the hallway to make sure it was Nathan free she went down stairs and found Lucas sitting at the kitchen table scoffing down his breakfast.

"What's with all the yelling and door slamming?" Lucas asked when he saw Haley.

"Your brother is a dick." Haley said and pinched a piece of toast off his plate.

"Hey that's mine. If you want some make your own." Lucas said trying to get his piece of toast back.

"I would but yours looked so good. Plus I really don't feel like talking to your brother at the moment." Haley said taking a bit of toast.

"What'd he do now?" Lucas asked with a sigh.

"Oh gee is that the time. I've gotta go and pick up Brooke. I'll see you at school." Haley said and rushed out the door, not really wanting to relive the embarrassment of Nathan walking in on her again.

Lucas was still sitting at the table ten minutes later when Nathan walked into the kitchen and went straight for the cereal.

"What did you do to Haley this morning?" Lucas asked his brother.

"Nothing, where is she?" Nathan asked.

"She left to pick up Brooke. She was really pissed at you man." Lucas told his brother.

"Shit, how pissed was she." Nathan asked

"Well she called you a dick and said she didn't want to talk to you. So what did you do? And don't tell me you did nothing." Lucas said

"I um…..kinda….sawhernaked." Nathan said.

"You what?" Lucas asked with a frown not quite understanding what his brother said.

"I accidentally walked into the bathroom when she was getting out of the shower." Nathan told his brother.

"Shit Nate, no wonder she was pissed at you. Did you apologise?" Lucas asked

"I didn't get a chance to she ran away." Nathan said

"Well you better apologise to her today at school. That is if she will listen to you. Next time knock on the door then enter." Lucas said.

Haley pulled up out the front of Brooke's house and quickly got out and ran up to rhe front door she fished out her key and opened it running up the stairs she walked into Brooke's room and flopped on her bed.

Brooke Davis was one of Haley's best friends, and just happened to be Lucas' girlfriend. Gorgeous sassy and outgoing Brooke Davis was one of the most popular and at Tree Hill high, she also happened to be student council President and Captain of the cheerleading team. And if Haley didn't love her so much she would probably hate her.

"Hey Tutorgirl what's up?" Brooke said looking over from her spot in front of the mirror where she was doing the finishing touches to her make-up.

"Can I move in with you Tigger?" Haley pleaded sitting up from her laying position on Brooke's bed.

"What did he do this time?" Brooke asked rolling her eyes

"Oh nothing, just barged into the bathroom as I was getting out of the shower." Haley told Brooke angrily.

"Nathan Scott saw you naked?" Brooke asked her eyes going wide then she started laughing.

"I am so barely just you friend right now." Haley told a still laughing Brooke.

"Sorry Tutorgirl, but you have to admit it's pretty funny." Brooke said.

"How is this in anyway funny?" Haley wanted to know.

"Ok, ok it's not funny. But I was just imagining the look on your face when he barged in on you." Brooke said.

"So what did Nathan do?" Brooke asked curiously.

"Just stood their gawking at me with that stupid smirk on his face, then basically said it was my fault coz I didn't lock the door." Haley told her.

"I bet he did." Brooke said with a smirk of her own, she had been waiting for years for Haley and Nathan to get together. Maybe this new living arrangement was just the push they needed to get their act together.

"We better get going or we'll be late for school." Haley said and the two made their way to school.

_Later that day….._

Nathan and Haley were in the same home room but she had lingered in the Tutor Centre during homeroom this morning so she didn't have to see him.

Haley managed to get through the entire morning without seeing Nathan, which really wasn't hard as they didn't have any classes together.

She had only spotted him once and quickly headed in the opposite direction. But her luck was about to run out as it was lunch time and they always ate lunch at the same table, if she wasn't there she would have to answer too many questions. Haley just hoped that Nathan hadn't told everyone about seeing her naked. If he had she would kill him.

Haley was heading towards the quad to meet everyone for lunch when someone grabbed her by the arm. Swinging around, she saw that it was Nathan.

"Hales I just wanted to apologise about this morning. I'm sorry I'll um…..make sure I knock next time." Nathan told her sheepishly.

"Um thanks. Do you think we could just forget the whole thing ever happened?" Haley asked.

"Um sure." Nathan said but didn't really think he would forget seeing her naked any time soon, but if that was what she needed to hear.

"And we _never_ mention it again, to anyone." Haley said.

"Ok." Nathan said

'You haven't told anyone have you?" Haley asked

"Only Lucas, he wanted to know why you were so pissed off at me." Nathan told her as they reached the table.

Already at the table were Lucas and Brooke along with the rest of their group, Peyton Sawyer, Skills Taylor, Mouth McFadden and Tim Smith.

Peyton Sawyer was Haley and Brooke's other best friend, she tall and slender with curly blond hair and green eyes. She was also a cheerleader the complete opposite to Brooke. A talented artist, she tended to be quiet and broody at times and Haley sometimes wondered what had made Peyton become a cheerleader.

Skills and Tim played basketball with Nathan and Lucas. Skills and Lucas and Nathan had been close since they were little. Somewhere along the way Tim had become part of their group although at time most of them wondered why. Tim was a nice guy but at time could be a little well stupid but his heart was in the right place so they put up with his tendency to talk before he thought about what he was going to say.

Haley took a seat next to Brooke hoping that Nathan would sit on the other side on the bench, but she knew obviously wasn't her day when he sat beside her.

"Hey Hales, how has your morning been?' Peyton asked her.

"Um not too bad I guess." Haley said praying she wasn't blushing and keeping her gaze away from Nathan.

"Not as good as Nathan's morning from what I hear." Tim said and was rewarded with six glares and a Nathan to kick him under the table.

"What?" Tim asked confused.

"I thought you said you only told Lucas?" Haley asked Nathan

"I did." Nathan told her.

"Great now the whole school probably knows that Nathan saw me naked." Haley said louder than she intended.

"What…..?" Skills, Peyton, Mouth and Tim all asked at the same time.

"You saw Haley naked? Dude, why didn't you say something?" Tim wanted to know.

"Wait a minute. Nathan didn't tell you?" Haley asked Tim confused.

"No." Tim said obviously put out by the fact that Nathan hadn't shared his morning antics with him.

"I told you I only told Lucas." Nathan told her.

"Then what did you mean about Nathan before then?" Haley asked

"He was named Captain of the basketball team." Tim told her and she realise

"Which you would have known if you had of been in homeroom this morning." Nathan told her.

"Oh…." Haley said

"Wait a minute, back up, Nathan saw you naked?" Peyton asked Haley.

"Not by choice." Nathan said.

"Gee thanks Nathan." Haley said.

"Shit. I didn't mean I didn't want to see you naked. Not that I thought about seeing you naked, at all ever." Nathan said wishing that the ground open up and swallow him.

"Me doth think he protests too much." Peyton said.

"Are you blushing Nathan Scott?" Brooke asked

"Don't be ridiculous Brooke." Nathan scoffed.

"You do know there is a way to even things out." Brooke said.

"Ok I'll bite. What do you mean?" Nathan asked.

"Well you saw Haley naked. I think it's only fair if you return the favour." Brooke said with a grin.

AN: So that was the first chapter of my new story.

Let me know what you think of it.

Please Review and make my day brighter!!

Thanks Laura

Chapter Name: We Might as Well Be Strangers By Keane


	3. Brave New World

AN: I do not own One Tree Hill in any way

**AN: A big thanks to everyone who reviewed!! Hope you like this chapter!!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own One Tree Hill in any way!!**

**Nor do I own the title of this story it is a song by The Flaming Lips**

**Chapter 2**

**Brave New World**

"_You do know there is a way to even things out." Brooke said._

"_Ok I'll bite. What do you mean?" Nathan asked._

"_Well you saw Haley naked. I think it's only fair if you return the favour." Brooke said with a grin._

Haley, who had been taking a drink from her water bottle, when she head Brooke's 'bright' idea, gasped while trying to swallow a mouth full of water at the same time. Resulting in her spraying water out of her mouth and nearly choking.

"Jeeze Tutorgirl, I already took one shower today." Brooke said wiping her face.

"You ok Hales?" Nathan asked patting her on the back.

"Oh, just peachy." Haley said shrugging off Nathan's hand, when she got her breath back and shooting Brooke a glare.

"Great idea Brookie, well come on Nathan, show me what you got." Haley said with fake cheerfulness.

"Ha ha very funny Hales." Nathan said.

"Don't be shy Nathan, its nothing most of the female population here hasn't already seen." Haley said sweetly.

"Is that the time? We have to go do that thing." Peyton said abruptly and stood up motioning for everyone but Nathan and Haley to follow her, wanting to get out of there before they were privy to another Nathan/Haley argument. They seemed to be having a lot of those lately.

"What thing? There's no thing." Tim said once again oblivious.

"You remember Tim that thing." Peyton said twisting his ear.

"But it's just getting interesting." Tim said with a pout.

"Hales I know you want to see my hot body." Nathan said with a smirk as everyone stood up to leave the table.

"Davis you're not going anywhere. Lucas you sit your ass back down too." Haley said grabbing Brooke's arm and pulling her back down next to her.

"What's the matter Hales you need a chaperone to make sure you keep your hands off the merchandise." Nathan said

"Nathan I think you're forgetting the fact that I've seen those naked baby photos of you. And let's not forget the time we went skinny dipping when we were 10. I've seen what you got Scott and frankly it's not too impressive. Coming Tigger?" Haley said standing up.

"Hey that was years ago and it was cold." Nathan spluttered, shocked at what Haley said, then he shot a glare at Brooke and Lucas who were clearly finding the whole conversation very amusing.

"Not one word Lucas." Nathan warned his brother when the girls had left leaving the two Scott boys sitting alone at the table.

"Ok, ok. But I guess you really are the little brother." A sniggering Lucas said to his brother.

"You better run." Nathan said and took off after his brother.

"Brooke I can't believe you said that." Haley said still fuming about Brooke's 'bright idea.'

"Like you haven't thought about it a hundred times." Brooke said rolling her eyes.

"Are you on drugs? Because you must be high if you think that." Haley said in disbelief.

"Oh please there's been a weird sexual tension between you and Hotshot for a while now. Why don't you two do us all a favour and just get it on already." Brooke continued.

"What? Are you crazy? Nathan is one of my best friends and that's it." Haley told her.

"Haley you can lie to yourself all you want but you can't lie to me." Brooke said leaving Haley alone at her locker contemplating what she said.

Nathan was sitting in his English class later that afternoon completely board. While his teacher Mrs Clarke, droned on about Shakespeare Nathan's thoughts drifted back to the morning, and Haley.

He was still shocked at the sight of a naked Haley this morning. 'Who knew she had such a hot little body?' Nathan thought a smirk on his lips. She may be short, not even coming up to his shoulder, but the girl had nice legs, and he wasn't even a leg man. He was more a breast man and she didn't disappoint in that department either. He remembered her long blond hair was slicked back and smiled to himself as he thought that she was definitely a natural blond.

Droplets of water had clung to her curves making him want to go over and grab her and….

'Shit,' he thought, this wasn't good. This was Haley his best friend who he'd know since they were in diapers, who he had to live with for the foreseeable future.

How was he ever going to think about Haley ever again without remembering her naked?

"Nathan Scott?"

"Mr Scott?"

"Huh." Nathan mumbled returning to reality, his head shooting up. He saw his teacher looking at him with a scowl on her face.

"Mr Scott I hate to interrupt your little nap but this is English not a chance for you to catch up on sleep."

"I wasn't asleep." Nathan said

"Good, then hopefully you can stay awake during detention. Which, you now have after school." Mrs Clarke said

"But – " Nathan started to say.

"Did you have something else to add Mr Scott?"

"No." Nathan said with a sigh.

"Good then let's get back to Shakespeare shall we." His Teacher said.

When English was finally finished Nathan gathered up his books and pen and was about to leave the classroom when Mrs Clarke called him to her desk.

"Nathan you really need to pay attention this year. Which means staying awake. Your grades last year were not great and if you want to be eligible to keep on playing basketball this year you will need to work hard." Mrs Clarke told him.

"I will work hard." Nathan assured her, but as far a he was concerned as long as his grades were enough to keep him eligible to play that was all that mattered.

"Good, because I would hate to have to talk to Coach Durham and let him know his star player was not paying attention in my class." She said.

Nathan just nodded and headed to detention, which he should get out of just in time for basketball practice.

Haley, Brooke and Peyton headed towards the gym for their first cheerleading practice of the year.

This was Haley's first time on the squad she had finally caved and given in to Brooke's constant harping at her to join. As Brooke pointed out it would look good on her college applications and showed school spirit.

They went to the girl's locker room and changed into their practice gear and headed to the basketball court. Brooke had fought hard with Coach Durham to be allowed to use the court, he had finally given in and let them use one end of the court, but they had to promise not to distract the players and keep out of the way.

When they got the court most of the team was doing suicides, Haley's eyes unconsciously searched for Nathan and she was surprised when she didn't see him, he was normally the first one at practice.

"Alright girls let's stretch." Brooke said motioning them to move into formation and then Haley was too busy trying to keep up to worry about where Nathan was.

"Finally decided to grace us with your presence Scott?" Coach 'Whitey' Durham barked out when Nathan jogged into the gym.

"Sorry Coach I got held up." Nathan explained.

"Ok now you can start again." Whitey told the team who collectively groaned.

"You can thank your new Captain for that." Whitey said sarcastically with a smile and a few glares were shot in Nathan's direction.

Knowing there was no use trying to get the whole team out of it Nathan walked over to the team to get started.

"Sorry guys." Nathan said

'Where were you anyway Nate?" Lucas asked

"Don't ask." Nathan told his brother quietly.

After they finished running the suicides they went through a few drills Nathan ended up being partnered with Lucas. Glancing over the other side of the gym Nathan noticed the cheerleaders were there. Then he noticed a familiar blond.

"Since when is Haley a cheerleader?" Nathan asked Lucas.

"Now I guess. Looks like Brooke finally talked her into it." Lucas said with a shrug.

Nathan was looking over at her going through the moves, when the ball hit him in the head.

"Shit Lucas. What'd you do that for?" Nathan said rubbing his head.

"Well if you were paying attention." Lucas said

"Scott's what the hell are you doing?" Whitey asked looking over at them.

"Sorry Coach." Nathan said.

"Don't apologise. Just don't do it again. Where's you head at today Nathan?" Whitey asked.

Nathan apologised again and Whitey just shook his head.

They soon started on a half court practice game. When the teams were decided half stripped off their shirts, and the other half kept theirs on to differentiate the two teams.

"Oh boy." Brooke said with a grin when she looked over at the boys and noticed half of them stripping of their shirts, causing the rest of the girls to look over.

"Is it me or did it just get hot in here?" said Theresa, one of the cheerleaders.

Haley looked over and rolled her eyes, of course Nathan was on the shirtless team. 'The boy would use any excuse to take his shirt off.' Haley thought to herself.

"Take a picture it will last longer." Brooke whispered in Haley's ear.

"Ha ha." Haley said trying to avert her gaze.

"You know for someone who had no interest seeing him naked you seem pretty happy to see him without his shirt on." Brooke said with a knowing smirk.

"Don't be ridiculous." Haley said rolling her eyes.

"Ok girls now that we've had a good look let's get back to the routine." Brooke said clapping her hands to get everyone's attention.

They were going through the routine when the ball rolled towards them, Haley who was at the end of the line saw the ball rolling towards her and picked it up so she wouldn't trip over it. As she straightened up she took a couple of steps towards where the boys were playing.

Nathan saw Haley pick up the ball and jogged over to where she was.

"You changed your mind yet?" Nathan asked

"About what?" Haley asked throwing him the ball.

"I saw you checking me out before." Nathan said with a smirk.

"I was just wondering what all the fuss was about. Clearly the rest of the female population is blind." Haley told him.

"Come with me right now and……"

"Nathan hurry up we haven't got all day." Whitey yelled out.

Nathan quickly headed back to the rest of the team, Haley watched him go and headed back to the squad, trying to ignore Brooke's 'I told you so' look.

They had just finished practice and were starting to head for the when Whitey called Nathan over.

"Yeah Coach?" Nathan asked when he reached him.

"Nathan is there a problem?" Whitey asked.

"No Coach." Nathan told him.

"Well first you're nearly twenty minutes late for training. Then you're distracted and seem more interested in the cheerleaders than in the game." Whitey said.

"Sorry Coach it won't happen again." Nathan said

"You're damn right it won't. Don't make me regret naming you Captain Nathan. Now hit the showers." Whitey said.

Nathan sighed and headed for the locker rooms. This had turned out to be the afternoon from hell.

Once in the locker room Nathan opened his locker grabbed his things out a slammed the door shut again.

"What's your problem today Nate?" Lucas asked his brother, who was definitely not himself.

"Just drop it Lucas." Nathan warned his brother.

"Fine." Lucas said shaking his head and then walked away.

**OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH**

"Tutorgirl I'm gonna get a ride home with Lucas." Brooke told her.

"Ok." Haley said, she'd half expected it anyway.

"Oh and don't expect him back tonight I have plans for him." Brooke said with a smirk

"Ewe Brooke, I don't want to know what your plans are, Lucas is like my brother." Haley said not wanting to know about Brooke and Lucas' sex life.

"Funny I've never heard you say that about Nathan. Which is kinda wired considering they _are_ brothers." Brooke said.

"Please don't start this whole Nathan thing again Brooke." Haley pleaded.

"Ok, ok. But just try and be nice to him tonight. He just got a total blasting from Whitey." Brooke told her.

"Great he's gonna be in another fowl mood." Haley groaned.

"Well if he's that bad just flash him again. That's sure to put him in a better mood." Brooke said.

"Brooke." Haley said slapping her on the arm.

"Ouch. That hurt." Brooke whined rubbing her arm.

"Stop saying crap like that, then won't have to worry." Haley warned her.

"Ooh here comes my Broody. I'll see you tomorrow." Brooke said skipping over to Lucas.

Haley turned walked over to her car and nearly ran into Skills.

"Sorry Skills I didn't see you there." Haley said with a laugh.

"S'alright James. So what's up with our boy today?" Skills asked

"If by boy you mean Nathan, then I have no idea. Do you know why he was late to practice?" Haley asked

"He got a detention in English." Skills told her.

"What did he do?" Haley asked.

"I'm not sure. But from what I hear he was pretty much told that if he wants to keep on playing basketball this year all his grades need to improve." Skills told her.

"I guess that put him in a good mood." Haley said

"Yeah and you saw what happened at training." Skills said

"Brooke said he and Whitey had words." Haley said.

"Yeah I don't know what was said only that Nate was pissed when he got into the locker room. So maybe go easy on him tonight." Skills said before getting into his car.

"God does everyone think I'm a total bitch?" Haley said. She would try and talk to Nathan when he got home and find out what happened.

When Haley got home she headed straight for the kitchen and grabbed an apple. It would be just her and Nathan for dinner and looking the fridge she didn't see anything that caught her eye and decided she would order take-out.

After going through the collection of menus they had she opted for pizza, at least she knew Nathan would like that.

She was just finishing phoning through the order when she heard the front door open, and then slam shut, then foot steps upstairs followed by another door slamming.

That was when then banging stated.

"What the hell?" Haley said and listened to try and work out what the noise was.

Whatever it was it sounded like it was coming from Nathan's room, and it didn't sound like it was going to stop any time soon.

Sighing Haley thought she'd better go and see what was wrong. She headed up stairs and knocked on his bedroom door, which by some quirk of fate was next door to hers.

"What?" Nathan asked

Haley opened the door and saw Nathan laying on his bed throwing a mini basketball against the roof, catching it, then throwing it again.

'Can I come in?" Haley asked tentatively.

"I guess." Nathan said

"Do you have to do that?" Haley asked.

"Do what?" Nathan asked being deliberately obtuse.

Haley walked over to his bed and snatched the ball out of his hands.

"Hey give that back." Nathan said sitting up.

"No. What's up?" Haley asked putting it behind her back.

"Come on Hales I'm not in the mood right now." Nathan said making a lunge for the ball, but she quickly stepped out of his reach.

"Just tell me what's wrong?" Haley asked

"Nothing I just had a bad day that's all. Now give me the ball." Nathan said.

"Pleas don't take this the wrong way. But I hear you might be in need of a tutor?" Haley said

"Who told you that?" Nathan wanted to know great now everyone thought he was failing and it was only the first week of school.

'So do you need help or not. Coz if you do I might be able help you." Haley told him

"I need to keep my grades up so I can keep on playing basketball. And according to Mrs Clarke my grades from last year only just keep me eligible." Nathan finally told her.

"How then hell can she say that it's only the first week of school?" Haley asked.

"I think she was just warning me." Nathan told her.

"So will you let me help you?" Haley asked knowing how proud he was and that he never liked to admit any weakness.

"If you think it would help." Nathan said after a few moments.

"It will. Prove everyone wrong and improve your grades. What could be better than that" Haley told him with a smile. "And to think I didn't even have to flash him."

"What?" Nathan choked out.

'Shit.' Did she really just day that out loud? Haley thought. 'Think, Haley think.'

"Um I said we'll have it sorted in a flash." Haley said hoping he believed her. Damn Brooke and her stupid ideas. They were sending her round the bend.

"Sure you did." Nathan said just as the doorbell rang.

As he watched Haley walk out of his room he thought about proving someone wrong but it was nothing to do with school. He planned on proving Haley wrong about what she's said about him at lunch. He knew she liked what she saw at training today and would just have to make sure to show her what she was missing out on as much as possible.

**OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH**

AN: Hope you liked the second chapter.

Let me know what you think.

Please Review and make me smile!!

Thanks Laura

CHAPTER NAME: Brave New World by Iron Maiden

COMING UP: A new student starts at THH.

Party Time at the Scott house, which means drunken mistakes, hurt feeling and some very hot kisses.


	4. The Games That Play Us

**AN: A huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!! **

**And I hope you like this chapter!!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own One Tree Hill in any way!!**

**Nor do I own the title of this story it is a song by The Flaming Lips**

**Chapter 3**

**The Games That Play Us**

_As he watched Haley walk out of his room he thought about proving someone wrong but it was nothing to do with school. He planned on proving Haley wrong about what she's said about him at lunch. He knew she liked what she saw at training today and would just have to make sure to show her what she was missing out on as much as possible. _

"Game on." Nathan said with a smirk and headed down stairs.

When Nathan got down stairs he saw Haley laughing and chatting to a delivery guy he recognised from the local pizza place. He stood there for a moment and watched as the idiot tried to flirt with Haley. 'What a tool,' Nathan thought rolling his eyes. When he heard her giggle at something the tool said he decided to make his presence known, walking over he stood behind Haley, his hands on his hips glaring at the idiot on the other side of the door.

"Great. Is that dinner Hales? Because I'm starving." Nathan said. Reaching into his back pocket for his wallet he pulled out a twenty dollar not and tossed it at the 'tool,' then grabbed the pizza.

"Thanks man." Nathan said before shutting the door in the idiot's face.

"Nathan what the hell was that?" Haley asked him shocked at his rude behaviour.

"What I'm hungry." Nathan said with a shrug then headed towards the den.

Haley shook her head with a sigh as she watched him go, she quickly went to the kitchen and got some plates, napkins and a couple of bottles of water, then went into the den to find Nathan already situated on the couch and the pizza on the coffee table in front of him. 'Well at least he waited for me.' She thought as the placed the plates and napkins on the table and threw Nathan his bottle of water, with maybe a little more force than necessary.

"Shit Hales. What was that for?" Nathan asked as he caught the bottle just before it hit him in the head.

"That was for being rude to Greg." Haley told him.

"Greg? What the hell kinda name is that anyway?" Nathan asked.

"Don't be a jerk Nathan. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous." Haley said.

"Please, the day I'm jealous of that tool is the day I start wearing a dress." Nathan scoffed.

"Whatever you say Nathan." Haley said sweetly.

Looking at him she found it hard to imagine him wearing a dress. But knowing him he'd probably make even that look good. At the moment he was wearing a pair of back basketball shorts and a wife beater, which of course displayed his bulging muscles to perfection.

Haley had to mentally shake herself to get rid of her wayward thoughts, which of course were all Brooke Davis' fault, and concentrate on her slice of pizza.

"So where is my idiot brother tonight?" Nathan asked as he finished a slice of pizza off.

"Brooke said he was staying at her place tonight." Haley told him.

"Oh so it's just you and me alone here tonight?" Nathan asked with a smirk.

"I hate to break it to you Nathan, but it has been you and I alone here most nights lately." Haley told him thinking of all the nights lately that she'd heard Lucas get home from Brooke's just before dawn.

"Something you would know if you didn't sleep like a dead person." Haley said with a roll of her eyes.

"I resent that. I don't sleep like a dead person. Just because I don't get up at the first sign of daylight doesn't mean I sleep like the dead." Nathan said.

"Please, a bomb could go off and you wouldn't even bat an eye lid." Haley scoffed reaching for another slice of pizza.

"And how would you know seeing as you've never slept with me?" Nathan asked

"I don't have to sleep with you to know that. Might I remind you that I have tried to get you out of bed on more than one occasion." Haley reminded him.

"Whatever. But if you wanted to we could test your theory tonight." Nathan said with a smirk.

"And just what would you do if I took you up on your offer Nathan?" Haley asked him trying to call his bluff.

"I'd say let's head up now, but don't expect to get much sleep." He told her with a wink.

"Oh my God, do lines like that normally work for you Nathan? Because if they do, then there's something seriously wrong with the female population of Tree Hill." Haley said rolling her eyes.

"Nope normally I don't have to say anything at all. They're just struck by my good looks." He told her with that irritating smirk once again.

Haley gasped for air fanning her hand in front of her face.

"What's wrong?" Nathan asked alarmed by the fact that she appeared to be having trouble breathing, and thought that maybe she'd choked on her pizza.

"I can't breath -" Haley gasped causing Nathan to straighten up and lean towards her

"There's no room with your ego." Haley said.

"Very funny Hales, for a moment there I thought I was gonna have to give you the kiss of life."

"Here you go Don Juan you can pack up the dishwasher. And after that I will help you with your English assignment." Haley said shoving her plate towards him.

"Fine." Nathan said with a sigh taking her plate and grabbing his before heading towards the kitchen.

Ten minutes later Nathan returned some what reluctantly with his English books, to find Haley on the floor with her books on the coffee table.

"So what are you studying in English?" Haley asked when he sat down next to her on the floor.

"Shakespeare." Nathan told her.

"You wanna be a bit more specific? He wrote 36 plays." Haley said.

"Really? Romeo and Juliet, we have to go through and answer some questions." Nathan told her.

"Ok let me see the questions?" Haley asked and he handed her the question sheet.

"Ok well you have to read through Act 1 and then answer the questions." Haley explained.

"Why the hell do I need to know this anyway?" Nathan asked after reading the first few lines.

"You don't." Haley said and he closed his book, "but if you want to keep on plying basketball you do." Haley finished and Nathan sighed and re-opened his book.

Nathan started reading again only to start muttering under his breath a few minutes later.

"Who the hell talks like this?" Nathan asked in disgust.

"Everyone, in those days." Haley told him.

"Well its stupid why can't they just get to the point and say what they mean." Nathan said.

"Um I probably wouldn't put that down on your paper." Haley told him.

"Ha ha." Nathan said with a half smile, before he started to read once again.

Haley glanced surreptitiously over at Nathan while he seemed engrossed in the words of Shakespeare, because knowing him like she did, it wouldn't last long before he once again got distracted by something.

'God he's gorgeous,' Haley thought to herself, which with any other guy wouldn't be a problem, except that he was Nathan Scott her best friend and they were living together for crying out loud.

Haley was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Nathan chucking, and hoped he hadn't caught her staring at him.

"What now?" Haley asked

"I was just thinking who Romeo reminded me of." Nathan said with a chuckle.

"Who does he remind you of?" Haley asked.

"Lucas." He told her.

"God Nathan you have the attention span of a goldfish." Haley said shaking her head.

"Come on Hales you have to see it too, he was totally in love with this one chick then he meets another one and then is totally in love with her. The first one totally forgotten about." Nathan told her, speaking about the fact that Lucas had been in love with Peyton for years and then suddenly it was Brooke he was in love with.

"Ok maybe a little." Haley admitted

"What about all that girly shit he's always saying, then there's the fact that he's a complete tool. It's totally Lucas." Nathan said looking proud of himself.

"Ok not the best characterisation I've ever heard, but see you can understand Shakespeare." Haley told him with a grin.

"I still don't know why we have to study this shit." Nathan said and stood up stretching.

"I'm gonna go get a drink do you want one?" Nathan asked her.

"Yeah a water would be good thanks." Haley told him with a smile, and tried to move her gaze from his ass he walked out of the room.

"Um Hales we have a bit of a problem in here." Nathan shouted from the kitchen.

"What?" Haley shouted back jumping to her feet and raced into the kitchen only to gasp and go sliding straight into Nathan sending them both to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

"Are you alright?" Haley asked sitting up when she got the breath that had been knocked out of her at the impact of the ground back.

"Great. I forgot what a klutz you can be." Nathan said with smile and sat up.

"Don't try and blame me for this one Nathan what the hell did you do?" Haley asked looking around at the bubbles, which were everywhere and seemed to be growing by the second.

"Why do you straight away think it's my fault?" Nathan asked her with a pout.

"Nathan the bubble are coming out of the dishwasher, which I do believe you put on." Haley said.

"What the hell did you put in the dishwasher?" Haley asked as she crawled over to the dishwasher.

"Just the detergent." Nathan told her with a shrug.

"Which one?" Haley asked with a groan.

"The green one." Nathan told her.

"Nathan, that's the detergent for washing up in the sink. There are tablets for the dishwasher under the sink." Haley said shaking her head.

"Oh." Nathan said.

"How are we gonna clean this mess up?" Haley asked.

"Um I'm not sure. But I've been wondering……" Nathan said

"What?" Haley asked

"What you look like with a beard." Nathan said as he covered her face with a handful of bubbles and laughed.

"You did not just do that." Haley spluttered out.

"I think I just did." Nathan said with a smirk.

"You are so going down Scott." Haley said as she scooped up as many bubbles as she could and blew them at him.

"Shit Haley you got them in my eyes." Nathan said blinking rapidly trying to rub at his eyes.

"Don't rub your eyes Nathan it'll make it worse. Here let me have a look." Haley said feeling slightly that she go the soapy bubbles in his eyes, scooting over so that she was sitting next to him.

"Show me your eyes." Haley said leaning up so she could get a closer look at his baby blues which were tightly shut.

"You have to open your eye Nathan. I have to see if we need to rinse them out." Haley said biting her bottom lip, and then he finally opened his eyes.

"Sucker." He said and covered her hair with the soap suds.

"That was just plain mean Nathan." Haley scolded hitting him on the chest.

"Ow that hurt Hales." Nathan said rubbing his chest.

"Serves you right." Haley said with a pout, only to shoot him a glare when she heard him chuckling.

"What?" She asked

"You have bubbles on your nose." He told her pointing to her nose.

"I'm not gonna fall for that one Scott." Haley said batting away his pointing finger, crossing her eyes to see if she could see the bubbles.

"I'm telling the truth Hales." Nathan told her.

"Sure you are."

"Here I'll show you." Nathan said reaching his hand towards her face.

"This better not be another trick. Coz if it is you better sleep with one eye open from now on. Coz payback's a bitch." Haley told him.

"It's not a trick." Nathan said, then wiped the soap suds off the side of her nose.

"See." He said and held the suds up for inspection.

"Ok, ok I believe you." Haley told him.

"So what did I look like with a beard?" Haley asked him

"Hmmm, surprisingly hot." Nathan told her with a smirk.

"Is that right?" Haley asked with a smirk of her own.

"Yeah….." Nathan said and leaned his head down towards her.

And all Haley could think of was 'Oh God he's gonna kiss me.'

"What the hell did you two idiots do to the kitchen?" Lucas said from the doorway of the kitchen, causing the two on the floor to jerk apart quickly.

"Shit Luke. What are you doing home I thought you were staying at Brooke's?" Nathan asked his brother trying not to sound as pissed as he felt, and swore his idiot brother had some sort of radar. He'd been just about to kiss Haley.

"Her parents got back from their latest trip early." Lucas said with a pout.

"So did you climb out her window Romeo?" Nathan said sending Haley an 'I told you so,' look.

"No I snuck out the back door." Lucas said.

"Don't try and change the subject what did you two idiots do to the kitchen?" Lucas asked.

"Ask your brother here." Haley said hitting Nathan in the arm.

"Stop hitting me Haley." Nathan whined.

"Nathan kindly offered to pack the dishwasher and put it on using the green detergent." Haley told Lucas.

"Hey it was your idea for me to pack the dishwasher." Nathan said but didn't argue any further when Haley shot him a glare.

"So how does that explain the mess?" Lucas asked.

"Lucas the green detergent is for washing dishes in the sink. There are tablets for the dishwasher under the sink." Haley told him shaking her head.

"Oh." Lucas said.

"Oh my God I'm living with two complete morons." Haley said standing up.

"I'm going up stairs to take a shower and you two better have this mess cleaned up by the time I get out of the shower." Haley said angrily and strode out of the room.

"Oh and don't even think about coming into the bathroom while I'm in there." Haley said poking her head back through the doorway.

"How are we gonna clean this mess up?" Nathan asked Haley.

"I'm sure between the two of you, you can work out something." Haley told them and left the two Scott boys in the soapy kitchen.

"How come when you piss Haley off I have to suffer as well?" Lucas asked his brother.

"It's a twin thing." Nathan told him with a smirk and Lucas rolled his eyes.

Half an hour later Haley was laying on her bed reading when there was a knock at her bedroom door.

Sighing Haley put her book aside and walked over opening her door, Nathan stood on the other side clad in only a pair of basketball shorts.

"Can I help you?" Haley asked her eyebrow raised in question.

"I just wanted to apologise about before. Are you still pissed off at me?" Nathan asked her.

"Nathan I was never pissed off at you." Haley told him smiling sweetly.

"You guilt-ed us into cleaning up didn't you." Nathan said his eyes narrowed.

"It worked didn't it?" Haley said with a grin.

"You're mean." Nathan said with a pout.

"Was there anything else you wanted Nathan?" Haley asked rolling her eyes at his attempt to make her feel guilty.

"Um yeah…..this…." Nathan said and leaned down and covered her lips with his.

**OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH**

AN: Hope you all liked chapter 3.

Please review and let me know what you thought!!

Thanks

Laura

TITLE NAME: The Games That Play Us By The Blackouts.

Next Chapter:

Nathan and Haley's reaction to the kiss, a new student causes trouble, Haley has a bad day and it seems a new romance may be developing.

Coming Up:

It's the first basketball game of the year which means one thing. Party Time!! And loads of DRAMA!!


	5. The Worst Day Since Yesterday

**AN: Sorry about the wait!! I'm going on holiday for a couple of week so am not sure when I will be able to post the next chapter but wanted to get this chapter up before I left.**

**I'm loving OTH at the moment and happy we are finally getting some cute Naley scenes!!!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own One Tree Hill in any way!!**

**Nor do I own the title of this story it is a song by The Flaming Lips**

**Chapter 4**

**The Worst Day Since Yesterday**

"_Was there anything else you wanted Nathan?" Haley asked rolling her eyes at his attempt to make her feel guilty._

"_Um yeah…..this…." Nathan said and leaned down and covered her lips with his._

Haley felt Nathan's tongue sweep along her bottom lip and unconsciously opened her mouth, allowing him to plunge his tongue into her mouth and tangle with hers.

She grasped his bare shoulders to hold herself steady against the onslaught of his mouth on hers and was soon lost in feel of his mouth and body against hers.

'Oh God,' Haley thought, 'Nathan's kissing me.'

And that thought alone was enough to break through the fog that had engulfed her and she abruptly wrenched her mouth away from his and broke free of his hold and did what any self respecting teenage girl would do, she slapped him.

"Shit Haley, did you just slap me?" Nathan asked incredulously as he tentatively touched his stinging cheek.

"Did you just kiss me?" She retorted her

"Well if you have to ask I guess I wasn't doing it right." Nathan said with a smirk.

"What the hell Nathan, you can just come in here and kiss me like…….like …..some… some…… kissing bandit." Haley told him

"What you think that since you've seen me naked I'm just gonna fall into bed with you now? She practically screeched at him.

"Well I hate to break it to you Nathan but you're not all that." Haley continued in full rant mode and finally pushed him out of her room and slammed the door in his stunned face.

"Well I've never had that reaction before." Nathan muttered to himself, stunned by her reaction to their kiss, which if you asked him was pretty freaking spectacular, even if Haley wasn't quite ready to admit that quite yet.

"Of all the freaking nerve." Haley muttered to herself as she paced up and down her room.

She could not believe Nathan had kissed her, Nathan her best friend and current housemate. Nathan Scott star basketball player and Ravens captain. Nathan Scott with his gorgeous blue eyes and sexy body kissing her Haley James, it was just crazy and well kinda incredible.

Running a finger along her still tingling lips, Haley's mind drifted back to the feel of his lips on hers, demanding and firm, his tongue sliding into her mouth, hot and sensuous, his hard body pressed up tightly against hers. And she found herself wanting to kiss him again.

And then she remembered what had happened after the kiss.

"Oh god I'm an idiot." Haley said sinking down to sit on her bed, her head in her hands, as she thought about her reaction to the kiss.

She couldn't believe she'd slapped him, and started yelling at him like a banshee.

If she thought it was bad facing Nathan after him seeing her naked this morning, she had no idea what she was going to do now.

Just after six the next morning Haley dragged herself out of bed after a sleepless night spent tossing and turning, her thoughts chaotic and alternating between cursing Nathan and wanting to kiss him again.

Her head pounding from lack of sleep, Haley dressed and went down stairs and straight to the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine. After waiting for what seemed forever it was finally ready and she was pouring herself a cup when the person responsible for her sleepless night walked into the kitchen.

The sight of him, again clad in only a black pair of basketball short worn low on his hips caused her thoughts to drift back the night before and……….

"Um Hales I think it's full." Nathan said pointing towards her.

"Huh?" Haley mumbled coming out of her daze to realise that he was talking about the fact that she was still pouring coffee into her cup and it was overflowing.

"Shit." She said and put down the coffee pot and jumped up grabbed a cloth to wipe up the spilt coffee.

When she looked back up he was standing there with a smirk on his face and proceeded to tell her he was going to go and jump in the shower.

Deciding to put as much distance between her and Nathan as possible Haley quickly upstairs and grabbed her book bag so she could head to school early slamming out of the house minutes later.

Nathan was still smiling about Haley's reaction in the kitchen earlier when he went down stairs half an hour later. Whether she wanted to admit it or not she had been checking him out earlier.

Lucas was once again sitting at the kitchen table eating cereal when Nathan walked into the kitchen.

"What did you do to Haley this time? Please don't tell me you walked in on her in the bathroom again?" Lucas asked his brother.

"Nope not this time." Nathan said with a grin.

"Then what'd you do?" Lucas asked

"I kissed her." Nathan said in a serious tone, causing Lucas to spray cereal and milk all over the table.

"You kissed her? Haley? Our Haley? Jesus Nate what were you thinking? Lucas asked.

"I don't know." Nathan said and he really wasn't sure why he'd kissed her.

"Are you into her?" Lucas asked

"I don't know." Nathan said once again.

"Well you better hurry up and decide. This is Haley we're talking about Nate, not some skank you can just use and cast aside." Lucas warned his brother.

"Shit don't you think I know that Luke." Nathan said running his hand shakily through his hair.

"I'm warning you Nate if you hurt her I'll fucking kill you." Lucas said.

"Lucas if I hurt her I'll help you 'fucking kill me.'" Nathan told him. The last thing he would ever want to do is hurt Haley.

"I can't believe you kissed her man." Lucas said with a shake of his head he shouldn't have been so surprised about the kiss. Brooke had been telling him for ages that there was a 'spark' between the two of them.

"What did she do?" He asked curiously.

"She slapped me, yelled at me and then slammed the door shut in my face." Nathan told his brother his tone filled with disbelief, then immediately wished he hadn't when Lucas roared with laughter.

"She did kiss me back though." Nathan said with a smirk.

**OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH**

In her haste to get out of the house and away from temptation (AKA Nathan Scott), Haley ended up going to school with a coffee splattered t-shirt, a fact she hadn't noticed until she was already at school. Luckily for her she knew Brooke kept a spare set of clothes in her locker so she would just have to wait till Brooke arrived to change her soiled top.

The good thing about being at school so early was that there wasn't a whole lot of people around, and Haley decided to head towards the Tutor Centre to make sure she was caught up with all her work so she could fit Nathan into her tutoring schedule.

She'd just about reached her destination when she saw the one person she always avoided at all costs, Damien West. Damien blamed both Haley and Nathan for the fact that he got kicked off the basketball team at the end of the last season due to the fact that he'd been put on academic probation. He thought that both she and Nathan had conspired together to get him off the basketball team. Haley had refused to tutor him any more after he'd started making inappropriate comments and basically sexually harassing her, and he was pissed that she wouldn't tutor him anymore. He also refused to believe that Nathan who was in danger of being kicked off the basketball team, managed to keep his grades up, and believed Nathan got special treatment due to the fact that his last name was Scott.

"Shit," Haley muttered when she saw that he was heading straight towards her and that he'd already seen her.

"Well if it isn't Tree Hill High's resident Ice Queen. How's it going Hales? Screw anyone over lately?" He sneered at her as he approached her and crowded her until she was backed up against a row of lockers.

"No but I'm sure you have." Haley retorted.

"You know that green shirt looks good on you Haley. You know what else would look good on you?" He commented his eyes raking lecherously over her body making her feel slightly dirty.

"Me." He said with sneer, moving closer to her.

"Not gonna happen, Ever." Haley said shoving him away from her and moving away from him.

Just as he was about to make a grab for her a door slammed down the hall and Haley picked up her pace practically running down the hallway.

She just rounded the corner at the end and nearly ran into Principal Turner and tall redhead.

"Haley you're here early this morning." Principal Turner commented when he saw her come round the corner.

"Hi Principal Turner, um yeah I guess I am a bit early." Haley said slightly out of breath, as she shot a glance over her shoulder to make sure Damien didn't follow her.

"Haley is one of our top students here at Tree Hill High, you'd do well to follow her lead." Principal Turner told the redheaded girl at his side, and Haley didn't miss the roll of her eyes when he looked over at Haley with a smile.

"Haley this is Rachel Gatina she has just moved here with her family from Savannah." He said making the introductions.

"Hi I'm Haley James." Haley said.

"Haley I have another meeting this morning, would you mind showing Rachel around the school for me please?" Principal Turner asked.

"Um ok sure." Haley said and with that Principal Turner left Haley and Rachel alone.

"So what do you think of Tree Hill?" Haley asked the redhead trying to make conversation.

"Look Holly was it? Can we just cut out the small-talk and just get on with the tour, coz I sure have better things to do with my time." Rachel said in a board tone.

"It's Haley and sure." Haley said with a fake smile, 'what a bitch,' Haley thought, 'just my luck to get stuck with her.'

"What kind of looser comes to school earlier than they have to anyway?" Rachel asked.

"Do you want me to show you around or not?" Haley asked sick of the redhead's rude attitude.

"Actually no I don't. Just point me in the direction of the gym Holly, I'm sure I can find a hot guy to show me around and just forget we ever me. I know I will." Rachel said.

"Down the hall on your right you can't miss it." Haley told her with a smile and with that she was gone in the direction Haley had told her. Too bad the gym was in the opposite direction Haley thought with a smirk.

Glancing down at her watch Haley saw that Brooke should be arriving at school any minute so decided to go and wait for her out front.

About five minutes later Haley spotted Brooke heading in her direction and smiled tiredly at her friend.

"Hey Tutorgirl what's up?" Brooke asked as she saw her friend.

"Don't ask Tigger. Between a run in with Damien West and being asked to show around a new girl, who by the way is the biggest bitch I have ever had the misfortune to meet. Let's just say I'm not having a good morning." Haley said as they started walking towards the front entrance of the school.

"What's this about a new girl?" Brooke asked

"Rachel the redheaded bitch, started today. Principal Turner asked me to show her around and she basically called me a looser and asked me directions to the gym so she could and I quote 'find a hot guy to show me round.'" Haley told Brooke.

"So I heard you're parent's finally came home last night." Haley said.

"Yeah they had to arrive home just when thing between me and Broody were starting to get, um…interesting." Brooke said with a smirk.

"God Brooke I don't want to know what you and Luke get up to." Haley said shaking her head with disgust.

"Speaking of interesting how are things with you and the other hot Scott?" Brooke asked and when she saw Haley's reaction to her question she pulled Haley to an abrupt stop.

"Oh my god what happened?" Brooke screeched

"Brooke. What makes you think something happened?" Haley asked

"Oh please you've got that face." Brooke said

"What face?" Haley asked

"Stop trying to avoid the question Haley James and just tell me what happened with you and Hotshot." Brooke said

"Nothing happened." Haley told her as they got to Brooke's locker.

"Ok I'll leave it for now. But you know I'll drag it out of you eventually. And if not I can always ask Nathan." Brooke told her.

"What the hell is all over your t-shirt?" Brooke asked as she noticed Haley's top.

"Oh yeah, I was gonna ask I could borrow a top off you." Haley said looking down at her coffee splattered top.

"You're in luck I have a spare." Brooke said as she opened her locker and tossed Haley a black shirt.

"Thanks Tigger." Haley said and headed to the girls toilets to change and Brooke waited outside for her.

Nearly 10 minutes later when Haley still hadn't emerged from the toilets Brooke went in to see what the problem was.

"Haley are you ok?" Brooke asked

"No." Haley replied

"What's wrong?" Brooke asked.

"I can't wear your top Brooke." Haley told her

"Why? Show me." Brooke told her

Haley reluctantly opened and stood their self consciously so Brooke could see what she looked like.

The shirt Brooke had given her was black with short sleaves and was extremely low cut on Haley, but the worst part was that the material was slightly see through and of course Haley had chosen to wear a bright orange lacy bra that morning, not an issue underneath her green t-shirt, but underneath this top she looked ridiculous.

"What's wrong with that? You look hot." Brooke told her.

"Brooke I cannot wear this. Don't you have another top?" Haley asked hopefully.

"No I don't." Brooke told her.

"Fine I'll just put my dirty one back on." Haley said, but before she could shut the door Brooke snatched her t-shirt out of her hands and backed towards the door.

"Haley you really do look hot. Just imagine what Hotshot's reaction to that top is gonna be." Brooke said with a smirk and with that she was gone leaving Haley with no choice but to wear the black shirt. And for once Haley found herself looking forward to gym class, deciding she would just wear her gym clothes for the rest of the day, and wished that she had time to change into them now.

After doing her best to make sure as little of her cleavage was showing as possible Haley went back out into the hall and walked straight into a hard chest.

"You know Hales if you wanted to talk to me you just had to say you didn't have to run into me. Nice top by the way." Nathan said looking down at her with a smirk.

"Well if it isn't the Kissing Bandit. Have you stuck your tongue down any poor unsuspecting girl's throat this morning?" Haley asked him.

"Not up til now but if you're volunteering." Nathan said putting his hands on her hips in pulling her towards him.

"Nathan……" Haley said removing herself from his grasp.

"Ok, ok." Nathan said putting his hands up in the air in defeat.

"Just so that you know you look very sexy in that top, but unlike every other guy in the school I don't have to imagine what's underneath that orange bra." Nathan whispered in her ear before heading off to class.

The rest of the morning when by in a blur for Haley and she was glad when it was time for gym class so she could get out of Brooke's top.

Haley walked into the girl's locker room and saw Brooke and Peyton already in there waiting.

"Hey Foxy how was your morning?" Peyton asked her with a grin.

"Very funny Peyton, laugh it up but just remember that next time it could be you." Haley told her.

"So I saw you and Nathan in the hallway this morning." Brooke said.

"Nothing gets by you does it Brooke." Peyton said.

"No and I didn't miss the look you were giving the new guy this morning in History either P Sawyer and I fully intend to interrogate you about it after I find out what's going on with Naley." Brooke said.

"Naley?" Haley and Peyton asked at the same time.

"Nathan and Haley equals Naley. You know like Brangalina and Tomkat." Brooke said rolling her eyes at her two best friend's ignorance.

"Brookie I hate to break it to you but there is no Nathan and I." Haley told her as she quickly got changed into her gym clothes.

Brooke was just about to say something else when they heard a whistle from beyond the locker room indicating that it was time to start class.

When all the girls in their gym class got into the gym they were surprised to see a group of boys including Nathan, Skills and Damien West, and Whitey waiting for them in the gym.

"Hello ladies. Miss Markham is off sick today so I will be taking you today for Gym and you will be having a joint class with mine today." Whitey told them.

"Great and I thought my day couldn't get any worse." Haley muttered.

"Is there a problem Miss James?" Whitey asked her having heard her muttering.

"Um, no Coach Durham there's no problem." Haley told him with a sweet smile.

"Any suggestions on what we should do?" Whitey asked the group.

"How about wrestling?" Someone said and there were a few shouts of agreements.

"I don't think so. I'd hate for the girls to make you boys look bad." Whitey said with a grin.

"How about a game of basketball coach?" Nathan asked.

"Why am I not surprised." Haley muttered.

"Why don't we make it boys versus girls." Brooke said with a smirk.

"Or we could just play and you girls could cheer." Damien West said.

"No we will play with mixed teams. But there is no contact allowed and boys you have to share the ball equally with the girls." Whitey told them and split them up into two teams.

Haley ended up being on a team with Nathan and Brooke and Peyton was on the other team that included Skills and Damien West.

Haley hated gym at the best of times but a gym class that included Nathan and basketball was like a nightmare and Haley was seriously thinking about faking an injury to get out of playing.

The teams split up and took to the court and Haley rolled her eyes when Damien West headed straight for her for the second time of the day.

"Haley, exactly which Scott brother are you fucking at the moment? Or are you just screwing both of them?" Damien asked her.

"A little bit close aren't you West?" Nathan asked as he walked over to where Haley stood.

"Guess that answers my question." Damien said with a smirk.

"You ok Hales?" Nathan asked.

"Oh I'm just great." Haley told him with fake cheerfulness.

"Ok let's get started and remember no contact I don't want anyone getting hurt." Whitey told them.

They started playing and it was going pretty well and Haley was actually starting to enjoy herself, she hadn't made any baskets or whatever you called them but she'd caught the ball a couple of times without hurting herself or anyone else and had even managed to pass the ball to Nathan who'd made the shot.

Brooke had just passed her the ball and Haley dribbled the ball c couple of time and was just about to pass the ball to Bevin who was on her team when she was knocked to the ground.

"What the hell was that? I said no contact." Whitey yelled from the sideline.

"Hales are you ok?" Nathan asked helping her to her feet.

"Are you sure?" Peyton and Brooke asked.

"I'm fine." Haley assured them

"What the hell is your problem West?" Nathan said getting up in Damien's face.

"You and you're little girlfriend are my problem." Damien said pushing Nathan.

"Nathan he's not worth it." Haley said trying to hold Nathan back.

"Maybe it's you who's not worth it Haley." Damien said with a smirk.

When Nathan made a move back towards Damien Haley managed to pull Nathan back.

"No wonder you got kicked off the team." Nathan told him turning so that he could talk to Whitey.

In an explosive movement Damien leaped towards Nathan, who was not looking at him, with his fist flying as Haley moved to stand in between the two of them.

Haley didn't even see his fist coming so she didn't have time to duck. Her head snapped back as his fist connected with her left cheek bone and she crashed into Nathan sending them both to the floor.

**OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH**

AN: Hope you liked this chapter!

Let me know what you thought.

Please Review and make me smile!!!

Thanks Laura 

Chapter Name: The Worst Day Since Yesterday By Flogging Molly


	6. A Multitude of Casualties

AN: A HUGE Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story and added it to your alert list!!!

Firstly I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and New Year.

Secondly I'm so sorry about the long wait for this chapter!! I hope it was worth the wait.

Thirdly I can't wait for Monday and brand new OTH episodes!!!

**Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own One Tree Hill in any way!!**

**Nor do I own the title of this story it's a song by The Flaming Lips**

Chapter 5

A Multitude of Casualties

_In an explosive movement Damien leaped towards Nathan, who was not looking at him, with his fist flying just as Haley moved to stand in between the two of them. _

_Haley didn't even see his fist coming so she didn't have time to duck. Her head snapped back as his fist connected with her left cheek bone and she crashed into Nathan sending them both to the floor……………_

The shock of Damien's fist connected with her cheek quickly gave way to a bright flash of pain, then she felt nothing at all as her world went black, her head making a sickening thud as it bounced off the polished floorboards of the basketball court.

One second Nathan was standing there trying talking to Whitey and let him know what a dick West was for pushing Haley over and the next thing he knew he was knocked to the floor.

"What the…?" Nathan said slightly confused as to how he ended up sprawled on the floor.

Pushing himself up into a sitting position, Nathan glanced over and saw Haley slumped on the floor next to him.

"Hales…..?" Nathan breathed out slightly dazed, wondering what the hell just happened.

Looking up he saw Peyton struggling to contain a ferocious Brooke, her fists flying as she tried to get to someone.

"Hales……" Nathan said urgently glancing back down at Haley who hadn't moved since they'd hit the floor.

"Come on baby open your eyes." Nathan pleaded, shaking her gently. Tilting her head towards him noticed that her left cheek was slightly swollen and discoloured and there was a small cut below her left eye.

His head snapped back up to see Whitey move over to help Peyton restrain Brooke, then he noticed who Brooke was trying to maim and realised what must have happened.

Damien West stood there with a slight smirk on his face as he made a smart ass comment to Brooke that Nathan couldn't quite catch. But his next words Nathan had no trouble hearing.

"I should have hit the bitch harder." He sneered looking down at both Nathan and Haley.

And in that moment Nathan lost it.

Jumping to his feet with a roar Nathan charged towards Damien punching him on the jaw. Grabbing him by the throat Nathan rammed him up against the wall.

"If you even so much as look in her direction again West I'm gonna fucking kill you." Nathan spat out at him through clenched teeth.

"Nathan let him go," Whitey said trying to pry Nathan's hands from Damien's neck,

"I promise you he's going to pay for what he's done. But right now you need to take Haley to the nurse."

The mention of Haley's name finally broke through Nathan's fury induced haze and he dropped his hands away from Damien and took a step back breathing raggedly.

Nathan didn't spare Damien, who was being lead out of the gym by Whitey, a second glance as he made his way back to Haley who, much to his relief was now sitting up with the aid of Brooke and Peyton.

"Hales are you alright?" Nathan asked softly as he crouched down in front of her.

Slowly lifting her head out of her hands she looked up at him and suddenly wished she hadn't moved as pain shot through her head. Her only answer was a slight whimper.

"Shit." Nathan muttered as he saw her face. It already looked worse than it did only moments before and there was blood dripping down her face from the cut below her eye.

Exchanging worried glances with Brooke and Peyton he moved closer to her, one arm going around her and the other beneath her knees.

"Hales, I'm just gonna lift you up and take you to the nurse." Nathan told her and gently picked her up.

He heard her moan as she moved her head to lean against his shoulder, moving carefully he made his way out of the gym towards the nurses office with Brooke and Peyton running ahead to let the nurse know what was going on.

When he reached the nurses office he walked though the already open door, spotting the nurse straight away.

"Nathan, why don't you just lay Haley down here on the bed gently and I'll take a look at her." Mrs Marshall the school nurse told him.

Making a move to do exactly what she told him, he stepped towards the bed, but when he tried to put Haley down she clung to him and wouldn't let go.

"Hales I need to put you down so that Mrs Marshall can take a look at you." Nathan told her gently.

When she finally let go so that he could lay her on the bed he took a step back to stand with Brooke and Peyton, who were both clearly worried about their friend.

"Why don't you all wait outside so that I can take a look at Haley." Mrs Marshall told the three friends.

Who reluctantly agreed to go out and wait in the hall, Brooke and Peyton sat of the floor against the wall while Nathan started pacing.

"Nathan, would you please stop pacing you're making me dizzy. Haley is gonna be fine." Brooke said after watching him pace up and down.

"How do you know that?" Nathan said shooting Brooke a glare.

What hell happened back there anyway?" Nathan asked wanting to know if Damien had deliberately hit Haley.

"Damien took a swing at you when he saw you weren't paying attention." Peyton told him.

"Yeah and I think Haley must have moved to stand in front of you so instead of hitting you he hit Haley." Brooke finished.

"Shit I better go and find Lucas before he hears about what happened from someone else." Brooke said as she realised it was nearly the end of the period and Lucas was bound to hear about what had happened to Haley.

"Nate, Haley really is going to be fine." Peyton reassured him as Brooke made her way down the hallway.

_Back in the Nurses' Office………_

"Ok Haley, can you tell me what happened?" The nurse asked her.

"We…ah were playing….um…. basketball and I got hit." Haley told her, shutting her eyes against the glaring light that was sending shooting pains right through her skull.

"So I can see." The nurse replied as she cleaned up the cut carefully under Haley's eye, and continued to check her out.

"Ok Haley can you open your eyes for a second please." She asked

Haley did as she requested and couldn't stop the grimace of pain as the lights again hurt her head.

"Haley I would like to send you over to the Hospital to get you checked out more thoroughly." Mrs Marshall told her.

"No really I'm fine." Haley told her weakly.

"Haley I'm not giving you a choice here, at the very least you have a concussion and I'm concerned that you may have a fractured cheekbone. Now try not to move too much while I go and get you an ice pack and call your parents." She told Haley.

"Um my parents are away at the moment." Haley told her.

"Is there anyone else I can contact you to come and pick you up?" She asked.

"Not really. Can't Nathan take me over to the Hospital?" Haley asked.

"It's not generally allowed but I guess just this one time it's ok." Mrs Marshall finally conceded.

Mrs Marshall poked her head out the door to see a group of teenagers waiting.

"Is she alright?" Nathan asked jumping to his feet as he spotted her.

"Like I told Haley I'd like her to go to the hospital to get checked over more thoroughly. And I think you should all get back to class before someone comes and catches you out here and you end up in detention" Mrs Marshall told them.

"Nathan if you come with me you can get Haley and take her to the Hospital." She told him.

"How come Nathan gets to see Haley and we have to go back to class?" Brooke asked with a pout.

"Because only one of you can go with her and Haley asked if Nathan could take her." She told them.

When the others finally made their way back to class after going in to quickly check that Haley was indeed ok and that they would ring to check on Haley at lunch, Nathan and Haley made their way out of the school to his car with Mrs Marshall walking with them to make sure Haley was ok, she told them that the hospital was expecting them and that they would be phoning her to let her know that Haley had arrived safely.

When they arrived at the hospital Haley was taken through to an examination room and Nathan waited for news on how she was doing.

He'd been waiting for about fifteen minuted when his cell phone went off.

"Hello….um yeah we're at the hospital now…..yeah ok I will……what happened……you've gotta be kidding me…..um ok bye." Nathan said ending the call and slumped down in his chair.

Twenty minutes later a Nurse came and directed him to Haley's room. Pushing the curtain aside he saw her laying there on the gurney with her eyes closed. If possible it seemed that the swelling on the left side of her face was worse and it was now a nasty black and purple colour. A contrast to the stark white bandage that now covered the small cut under her eye.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Nathan asked softly as he sat in the chair next to the bed.

"Like I got punched in the face." Haley told him opening her eyes, or at least she tried to open her left eye but with all the swelling she could barely see out of it

"What did the Doctor say?" Nathan wanted to know.

"I've got a concussion, but the good news is I don't have a fractured cheekbone." Haley told him as she sat up.

"They want to keep me in for a couple more hours but then if everything is ok they said I can go home." Haley told him before laying back down and closing her eyes.

"Will you wait with me please Nathan?" Haley whispered before drifting off to sleep.

"Of course I will Hales, you can't get rid of me that easily." He replied gently taking her hand in his, but received no answer then he just sat and watched her sleep.

Nathan must have drifted off at some stage because the next thing he knew he was being shaken awake.

"Huh….what?" Nathan muttered as he jerked awake.

"Sorry I didn't want to wake you, just need my hand back." Haley told him indicating to their still joined hands.

"Sorry. Are you feeling ok?" Nathan asked letting go of her hand.

"Yeah I am actually. My head still hurts but not as bad as before. But the Doctor said I could go home now." Haley told him.

"When did the Doctor come?" Nathan asked confused

"Nathan I told you, you sleep like a dead person. He came in just before you woke up." Haley explained.

Ten minutes later after Nathan had informed everyone that Haley was ok to go home and the Doctor had given him strict instructions to bring Haley back to the Hospital if he was concerned about her in the slightest and that she was not to get out of bed for the next couple of days, they were free to leave the Hospital.

The drive home was quick and soon they pulled up in front of the Scott house, no matter how long she stayed here it would always be the Scott house.

Nathan insisted on carrying her inside and straight up to her bedroom insisting that she needed rest.

"Nathan I've been in bed all afternoon." Haley whined.

"Haley you heard what the Doctor said, you have to take it easy. And you're not allowed back at school 'til next week." Nathan reminded her. He knew she wouldn't be happy about missing school.

"Nathan I'm gonna be board out of my brain." Haley said

"No you won't. I'll be here to keep you company." Nathan told her.

"Oh no. You are not using me as an excuse to miss school Nathan Scott. I can ask your Aunt Karen to come and check up on me. But you are going to school Mister" Haley told him.

"Actually I'm not." Nathan assured her.

"What do you mean?" Haley asked

"I got suspended." Nathan told her.

**OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH**

Hope you all enjoyed that chapter!!

Please review and make me smile!!!

Thanks Laura

CHAPTER NAME: A Multitude of Casualties By The Hold Steady


	7. Can't Stop This Thing We Started

**Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own One Tree Hill in any way!!**

**Nor do I own the title of this story it's a song by The Flaming Lips**

**AN: Yes this really is an UD. So sorry it's taken me so long! And hope there is still some interest in this story. A BIG thanks to any one who has reviewed this story, or added it to their favourite or alert list. **

**Hope you enjoy this chapter!!**

Chapter 6

Can't Stop This Thing We Started

"_What do you mean?" Haley asked_

"_I got suspended." Nathan told her._

"You what?" Haley asked in disbelief jerking her head up to look at him and them immediately wished she hadn't as pain knifed trough her head and made her vision swim.

"Shit Haley. Just stay still." Nathan told her as he saw her clutching her head, gently pushing her so that she lay down again.

"Nathan…." Haley pleaded.

"I ah got suspended." Nathan told her sheepishly running a hand through his hair.

"What?? Why?" Haley asked him confused.

"For hitting West." Nathan explained as he stood up and started pacing around her room.

"God Nathan – " Haley started and he looked back at her saw how battered and tiny she look in the big bed. But he could also see the disappointment in her eyes.

"Look Hales if you want me to apologise for defending you, or for flighting back when someone hurts you, then I can't do that. I won't do that. Coz the truth is that's a guy I'll never be, a guy that just stands by while the world hurts you." Nathan told her coming to a stop next to where she lay on the bed.

"Nathan I know you're not that guy, you never have been. And I love you for that. But you shouldn't have hit him. You can't afford to get into any more trouble at school." Haley said.

"And what about basketball? And what about Damien?" Haley asked suddenly wondering what had happened with Damien West.

"Whitey rang me while I was waiting for you at the hospital and he told me that West is being expelled, what with hitting you and already being on probation. He also said that when Turner found out that I hit Damien he had no option but to suspend me. Whitey later spoke to Turner and they agreed that the suspension would not to go on my school record and that I wouldn't miss any basketball. " Nathan told her.

"Turner agreed to that? Are you sure?" Haley asked.

"Yeah Hales he did and he also wanted to know if you wanted to press charges against West?" Nathan explained.

"Um I hadn't really thought about it." Haley told him honestly rubbing her head.

"He said you didn't have to decide anything straight away." Nathan told her.

"Ok I'll think about it." She told him carefully looking over at him so as not to make the pain in her head any worse and saw him grinning at her like a fool.

"What's so funny?" Haley asked wanting to know the reason for his dramatic change in mood.

"You said you loved me." Nathan told her with a smirk.

"What?" No I didn't." Haley all but spluttered out.

"Um yeah you did Hales. You said 'And I love you for that.'" Nathan told her.

"Nathan I have a concussion and am on some serious pain killers I have no idea what I'm saying." Haley told him once again clutching her head and closing her eyes against the afternoon sunlight shining through her bedroom window.

Noticing her growing discomfort Nathan made no reply to her comment and walked over and pulled the curtains across the window shutting out the glare of the afternoon sun.

"I'm gonna go get an ice pack for you face and I think it's time for you to have another pain pill. Be back in a sec." Nathan said before heading out of the room.

When he walked back into her room a few minuted later with an ice pack wrapped in a tea towel a glass of water and a couple of pain killers clenched in his hand, and once again felt his anger at Damien West grow. Bruises now covered most of the left side of her face which was also puffy and swollen. He could tell she was in a fair amount of pain by the slight grimace on her face as she lay curled up on her right side.

"Hales here's your pills." Nathan told her gently as he sat down beside her on her bed.

Opening her eyes she sat up carefully and took the pills from Nathan and washed them down with the glass of water he gave her.

"Thanks for looking after me." Haley said as she lay down again and closed her eyes, the ice pack across her cheek.

"There's nowhere I'd rather be." He told her sincerely and made a move to get up so that she could get some rest.

Feeling the bed move slightly as Nathan got to his feel Haley opened her eyes again.

"Nathan?" Haley said

"Yeah?"

"Will you stay with me for a little while?" Haley asked.

"If you want me to stay." Nathan told her.

"I do." Haley told him and watched as he did something to his watch.

"What are you doing?" Haley asked him taking the ice pack off her face, deciding it was too cold.

"Just making sure I remember to check on you in an hour like the Doctor told me too." Nathan told her once again settling on the bed next to her.

Haley moved closer to him snuggling against his side, resting her head on his chest her hand on his heart as he wrapped his arm around her holding her close.

Nathan and Haley were both in the exact same position about half an hour later when Haley's bedroom door was flung open.

Brooke, Lucas and Peyton stood just inside the room as they took in the sight of the two wrapped up in each other.

"Awe isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever seen." Brooke said to the two blonds.

"Sweet is not a word I would ever associate with my brother Pretty Girl." Lucas said to his smiling girlfriend, shaking his head at the sight of his brother and the girl he considered a sister in each others arms.

"Well I think it's sweet. You agree with me don't you P Sawyer?"

"I'd have to go more with unexpected." Peyton told the giddy brunette.

"Oh you two are way too broody for my liking." Brooke told Peyton and Lucas annoyed that they didn't share her view of the sleeping couple.

"Look at her poor face." Brooke said her mood suddenly turning serious.

"Do you really think she's alright?" Brooke asked.

"I'm sure the Doctors wouldn't have let her come home if she wasn't ok." Peyton assured her.

"What's wrong Broody?" Brooke asked as she noticed her boyfriends clenched fists and could literally see the anger radiating from him.

"I should have gone after West and beat the shit out of him for this." Lucas said.

"Broody, as much as I'm all for the ass kicking. The last thing Haley would want is for you to be suspended too." Brooke told him running a soothing hand down his arm.

"Yeah Brooke's right both you and Nathan just need to let it go and keep away from Damien altogether. He got expelled and you just need to leave it at that." Peyton told Lucas and would more than likely repeat it to Nathan later on.

"Ok I get the point. We should get out of here before we wake them up and have to face Nathan in a pissy mood." Lucas said and started for the door.

"Just one second." Brooke said.

Grabbing her cell phone out of her bag Brooke flipped it open and quickly snapped a couple of photos of Nathan and Haley.

"What?" Brooke said as he saw the look Lucas and Peyton were giving her.

"I said it was sweet, but it's also too good an opportunity to pass up. Just think of the blackmailing power these photos will give me." She said with a wink.

"You Brooke Davis are one of a kind." Lucas said to his girlfriend with a smile and a shake of his head.

"Yeah I know. That's why you love me." Brooke told him with a smirk.

"Come on you two idiots lets get out of here." Peyton said dragging Brooke and Lucas with her out of the room shutting the door quietly behind them.

********

Nathan woke up to the sound of the alarm on his watch going off. Sitting up he gently shook Haley awake.

The first thing Haley noticed when she reluctantly opened her eyes, was Nathan's gorgeous baby blues staring worriedly back at her the second thing she noticed was the pain from her face and head.

Moaning she closed her eyes again, not wanting to be awake and slightly annoyed that Nathan had woken her up.

"Hales I need you to open your eyes so I can check and make sure you're ok." Nathan told her.

Reluctantly Haley opened her eyes again and looked up at him.

"How are you feeling?" Nathan asked.

"I feel like I got hit repeatedly in the head with a baseball bat." Haley told him with a grimace.

"Do you feel dizzy or sick?" Nathan asked concerned.

"No." Haley told him.

"Are you sure? Do you need anything?" Nathan asked her only to chuckle when he heard her stomach grumble loudly.

"Well that was attractive." Haley said with an embarrassed groan.

"So I'm guessing you're a bit hungry? Let me go and see what I can fix up." Nathan said standing up.

"I'll be back up in a bit." Nathan told her. "Just ring the home phone if you need anything." He said handing her his cell phone.

Going down stairs he head voices from the living room, stepping into the room he saw Lucas and Brooke curled up together on the couch and Peyton sitting sideways on the armchair their attention on the flat screen TV on the wall.

"Hey." Nathan said

"How's Hales?" Lucas asked as soon as he heard Nathan.

"She's in a fair bit of pain, but you know Hales, I think she's more upset about not being able to go to school for a few days." Nathan said.

"That sounds like Hales." Lucas said with a smile.

"So what did the Doctor say?" Brooke wanted to know.

"Just that she was pretty lucky nothing was broken and that she's got a concussion and we have to keep a close eye on her for the next couple of days." Nathan said.

"Did you want us to go and sit with her for a while?" Peyton asked.

"I'm not sure if she'll be awake or not but go ahead. I told her I'd make her something to eat so I better get started." Nathan said and headed towards the kitchen.

"What Nathan Scott willingly going into the kitchen to cook something?" Brooke said with raised eyebrow. "Now this is what _I_ call unexpected. And just a little bit scary. I mean does he even know how to cook? The last thing Haley needs is a bout of food poisoning. Maybe I should go in and give him a hand." Brooke rambled before heading off to the kitchen after Nathan.

"Wow. And I though Haley was the queen of rambling." Lucas said in awe.

"Yeah for a moment there I thought she would surly pass out with lack of oxygen." Peyton said with a laugh.

"I might go up and sit with Haley for a bit if you want to go rescue your brother from your girlfriend." Peyton told him.

"Gee thanks Peyton." Lucas said.

"Not a problem. Your brother, your girlfriend, your problem my friend." Peyton told him.

Then he heard the yelling from the kitchen and jumped up racing to diffuse whatever argument Nathan and Brooke were having.

"Nathan that is not how you make it." Brooke whined

"How the hell would you know Brooke? Have you ever stepped foot in your kitchen before?" Nathan wanted to know.

"So not the point right now, why do you always have to be a jackass." Brooke asked starting to get pissed at his attitude.

"Fuck off Brooke. Go and annoy someone else." Nathan told her.

"Well at least read the instructions on the back of the box. That is if you can read. No wonder Haley thinks you're an ass." Brooke spat back waving the box at him.

"Lucas come and remove your girlfriend from the kitchen before I do something you'll kick my ass for." Nathan said to Lucas who was standing on the other side of the kitchen looking like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world.

"Broody I just want to make sure he does it right." Brooke pouted back at Lucas.

Seeing the box Brooke was waving around Lucas felt compelled to defend his brother.

"Brooke he could make that in his sleep. It's the only thing he knows how to make and I'm pretty sure it was Haley that taught him how to make it." Lucas told her.

"See." Nathan told her with a sneer.

"Whatever looser I'm going to go up and sit with Haley. Jackass." Brooke said and proceeded to strut out of the kitchen, leaving both Scott brothers staring after her.

"Thanks bro, another minute in the same room as her and I would have either stabbed myself or her. I seriously don't know how the hell you put up with her." Nathan said with a shake of his head stirring the pot on the stove.

"Oh I can think of a few reasons. You two would get along a lot better if you weren't constantly making verbal jabs at each other." Lucas told his brother.

"Whatever she started it." Nathan told him

"Jesus how old are you Nate?" Lucas asked and walked out of the kitchen deciding to keep the girls company upstairs rather than put up with a pissed off Nathan.

"Whatever." Nathan said turning his attention back to the task of making Haley's dinner.

A little while later Nathan spooned the contents of the pot into a bowl a spoon and grabbed another glass of water and headed back up to Haley's room.

Going into the room he saw a now pyjama clad Haley propped up on the bed between a quieter than normal Brooke, and Peyton. And figured they'd helped her change out of her gym clothes into her pyjamas, something he cursed himself for not thinking of.

Lucas had pulled a chair over and sat quietly with his feet propped up on the end of the bed.

"Hey we started to think you got lost down there or something." Haley said with a slight smile.

"Well Haley was a bit worried. I was hoping you got lost." Brooke retorted poking her tongue out at Nathan.

"Brooke play nice." Haley warned her.

"I wasn't down there for that long. Besides it takes a while to create perfection." Nathan told her with a smirk deciding to ignore Brooke's comment.

"Oh boy." Brooke said rolling her eyes at Nathan's cocky attitude.

"So what did you make me?" Haley wanted to know.

"Hales you know me well enough to know that there is only one thing I can make that isn't considered breakfast food." Nathan told her.

"Oh I was hoping you made me that." Haley said.

"How about we get out of here, I'll even shout for dinner." Lucas said not wanting to risk Brooke and Nathan in the same room at the moment while Haley had a hell of a headache.

"Oh Broody, that's so sweet." Brooke said.

"Now that's an offer I'm not going to refuse." Peyton said getting up immediately not willing to miss out on the rare opportunity of Lucas paying for dinner.

The trio quickly said their goodbyes to Haley and Nathan and then left so Lucas could make good on his offer.

Letting out a deep breath Haley rubbed a hand over her head.

"You ok?" Nathan asked as he sat down on the bed next to her.

"Is it time for another pill yet?" Haley asked.

"Not for a while yet sorry." Nathan told her handing her the steaming bowl.

"Mmm I love Mac and Cheese it's the…."

"Food of the gods, yeah so you've told me, and anyone else who'd listen many many time's." Nathan said with a smile.

"This is great Nathan, but I'll never be able to eat all this." Haley told him.

"I was counting on that and kinda hoping you'd share it with me." Nathan said producing another spoon from his pocket.

"Well seeing as you made it how can I refuse." Haley replied sitting the bowl between them on the bed.

They sat on the bed and quietly ate their dinner neither feeling the need to say anything.

After Nathan had cleaned up the remnants of their dinner he assisted Haley to the bathroom so she could get ready for bed.

"Are you sure you'll be ok?" Nathan asked

"Scott there is no way you are getting into this bathroom again while I'm in it concussion or not." Haley warned him.

"Ok. I'll just wait outside just in case you feel dizzy or anything." Nathan told her.

"Fine but I'm locking the door." Haley told him as she shut it making sure to twist the lock.

After using the toilet, she looked at the shower and decided it wasn't a good idea to stand up for that long she made her way over to the vanity she saw herself in the mirror for the first time since the whole getting punched in the face incident.

"Oh God." She said as she saw her face. She looked terrible. The whole left side of her face looked as if it was swollen to twice it's normal size and her left eye was swollen nearly completely shut a small while bandage underneath it. And then there was the bruising which ranged in colour from blue to back to red.

"Haley are you ok in there." Nathan asked worriedly hearing her exclamation.

"Yes I'm fine." She managed to get out unable to stop the tears from running down her face and she slid down to the floor.

"You don't sound ok." Nathan replied as he listened through the door hearing a muffled sound from the other side.

"Hales are you crying?" He asked gently.

After receiving no reply from her, he started to get worried. Reaching into his pocket he found what he was looking and pulled out a quarter and put it into the door knob twisting it to release the lock.

Opening the door he found her sitting on the bathroom floor clutching her knees, tears streaming down her face.

"Shit Hales what happened? Did you get dizzy? Do you want me to take you back to the hospital?" Nathan asked his voice full of panic as he sat down beside her pulling to sit in his lap.

Haley said something but he couldn't hear though her tears.

"What's wrong baby?" Nathan implored her smoothing the hair back from her face as gently as he could.

"H-how can you e-even bare to look at me?" Haley asked in a broken voice.

"What do you mean Hales?" Nathan asked her slightly baffled by her question.

"I'm so ugly. Just look at my face it's hideous." Haley cried out refusing to even look at him.

"Hales you could never look ugly." Nathan told her his hand beneath her chin tilting her head back so that she was looking at him.

"Even with those bruises you are still beautiful Haley James." Nathan told her.

"Come on lets get you back to bed." Nathan said lifting her up and carrying her back to bed.

After settling Haley back in bed he left her briefly to change for bed then headed down stairs to make sure everything was locked up for the night, then headed back to Haley's room.

Seeing him come through her door in his boxers and a wife beater, Haley felt her heart start to race. She lifted the bed spread back indicating for him to get in knowing that he wasn't going to leave her alone tonight and not wanting him to.

After giving her another pain pill Nathan set his watch alarm to go off in an hour, switched off the lamp and climbed into the bed with her.

"Nathan." Haley whispered into the dark.

"Yeah?" Nathan replied

"Do you really think I'm beautiful?" Haley wanted to know.

"Yes I do. Now try and get some sleep." Nathan told her.

"Nathan" Haley whispered again.

"Yeah?" He asked again.

"Thanks." Haley said.

The rest of the night went by with a bit of a blur with Nathan waking Haley up every hour to make sure she was ok and give her a pain pill when needed, until finally at around five am Haley said she was fine and warned him that if he woke her up again he would be the one in need of a hospital, after which they both fell into an exhausted sleep.

He felt her hand stroke a path up his chest and her lips on his neck, his hands found their way to her waist pulling her so that she lay sprawled on top of him.

She lifted lips from his neck leaned back and smiled down at him then leaned down and covered her lips with his. He parted his lips and deepened the kiss. Kissing Haley felt like heaven.

Desire slammed thought him hot and heavy as she suddenly broke off the kiss and moved so that she was straddling him. Her hands went to the hem of her cami and she quickly lifted the top over her head and flung it over the side of the bed. Then once again leaned down and kissed him.

TBC……..

AN: Hope you enjoyed this long over due chapter and don't hate me too much for taking sooo long to UD and for leaving off this chapter where I did but I did have my reasons I promise!!

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks Laura x

TITLE SONG: Can't Stop This Thing We Started By Bryan Adams


	8. I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

**Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own One Tree Hill in any way!!**

**Nor do I own the title of this story it's a song by The Flaming Lips**

**AN:A HUGE THANKS to everyone who has taken the time to review this story or add it to your favourites and alerts it means a lot.**

**Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter posted but Hope you enjoy it!!!**

Chapter Seven

I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

_The rest of the night went by with a bit of a blur with Nathan waking Haley up every hour to make sure she was ok and give her a pain pill when needed, until finally at around five am Haley said she was fine and warned him that if he woke her up again he would be the one in need of a hospital, after which they both fell into an exhausted sleep._

_He felt her hand stroke a path up his chest and her lips on his neck, his hands found their way to her waist pulling her so that she lay sprawled on top of him._

_She lifted lips from his neck leaned back and smiled down at him then leaned down and covered her lips with his. He parted his lips and deepened the kiss. Kissing Haley felt like heaven._

_Desire slammed thought him hot and heavy as she suddenly broke off the kiss and moved so that she was straddling him. Her hands went to the hem of her cami and she quickly lifted the top over her head and flung it over the side of the bed. Then once again leaned down and kissed him._

Threading his fingers through her hair he returned her kiss fiercely, his tongue tangling with hers. When air became an issue he reluctantly tore his mouth from hers and smirked up at her when he saw her pouting. Deciding that she'd been in control of things for long enough, he flipped them over and…….

Hit the floor with a thud, jerking awake immediately.

"Fuck." Nathan yelped rubbing the elbow he'd hit on the floor.

He sat there on the floor for a few seconds staring down at his lap trying to think about anything other than the girl in the bed above him and her staring role in his dream. A role that was becoming a regular occurrence since he walked in on her in the bathroom, and seen that hot body hidden beneath her clothes. Her tiny waist, the curve of her hips, her prefect beasts….

"Shit. Not helping." Nathan muttered trying to curb his wayward thoughts. Thoughts that were in no way helping his hard on disappear any time soon. Getting up gingerly from the floor Nathan snuck a peek at Haley who was still fast asleep curled on her side facing towards him, her swollen face now a rainbow of colours. Nathan let out a deep breath at the sight of her and decided to head for the bathroom where a cold shower awaited him.

****

Haley woke up to a pounding in her head and immediately wished she was still asleep. Opening her eyes, or rather the eye that wasn't swollen she, with a groan, the first thing she noticed was that Nathan was not longer beside her in the bed, the second thing she noticed was that it was still a little before seven am. Which meant that she had only been asleep for less than two hours, which also meant that Nathan had only been asleep for that long too, and she wondered where he'd gone this early in the morning, especially since it usually took a bomb to get him out of bed before eight o'clock in the morning.

Haley was just contemplating how she was going to get out of bed with the pounding in her head when there was a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in." Haley said her voice still thick with sleep, wincing slightly as the words reverberated through her head causing her to clutch it in her hands with a moan.

"Hales are you ok?" Lucas asked worriedly as he entered the room seeing her sitting on her bed with her head in her hands.

"Yeah." Haley replied in a whisper.

"You sure?" Lucas asked as he sat down beside her on the bed.

"Yeah, if I don't try to move or talk." Haley told him with a forced smile trying to make a joke out of it.

"Where's Florence Nightingale gone?" Lucas asked her in reference to Nathan's absence from the room.

"Don't you mean Nurse Ratchet." Haley said with a pout.

"He that bad huh?" Lucas asked with a laugh.

"No he's been really sweet. I just didn't know he was such a stickler for Doctors orders." Haley told him.

"Hmm Nathan and sweet, two words I never thought I'd ever hear in the same sentence, especially coming from you." Lucas told her, his thought going to the conversation he, Brooke and Peyton had had the night before at Karen's Café.

"But tell the truth Hales, we all know you just don't want to miss out on any school and you're just pissed that Nathan is gonna make sure you follow Doctors orders and stay home." Lucas said knowing exactly how her mind worked.

"Lucas I'm fine. I don't see why I can't go back to school. This is ridiculous I'm fine." Haley told him raising her voice louder than she intended, trying not to let Lucas see how much pain she was really in.

"A little high on yourself are you. Going round telling people you're all fine." Nathan said from his position lounging against the door frame.

"Very funny Nathan. How long have you been standing there?" Haley asked him.

"Long enough to hear that you've well enough to go back to school." Nathan told her.

"Well I am." Haley said stubbornly.

"Haley I don't think……" Lucas started

"Well come on then." Nathan said as he walked further into the room.

"What do you mean?" Haley asked slightly confused.

"Well if you're as 'fine' as you say you are get up and walk over to me. If you can make it over to me unassisted I'll drive you to school myself." Nathan told her stopping about four meters away from Haley and the bed.

"Ok then." Haley told him pulling herself to the edge of the bed so she could stand up.

"Nate I don't think……" Lucas started only to be interrupted again.

"Lucas you head her she's 'fine' this should be no problem." Nathan told his brother, ignoring Lucas' warning glare.

"Yes Lucas, Nathan's right." Haley told him, as she swung her legs of the bed, closing her eyes for a moment as the room swam a little, biting her lip so she didn't cry out in pain and got to her feet.

"This is ridiculous Haley get back in bed. Nathan don't encourage her to be stupid." Lucas told them climbing over to bed to wrap his arm around Haley.

"Back of Lucas, I can do this." Haley told him.

Lucas looked at her for a moment and saw the determination in her face, then looked over at Nathan and saw a similar look on his face and then realised what Nathan's plan was.

"Ok Hales if you say so." Lucas said raising his hands in defeat and taking a step back from her.

Once the room had stopped spinning Haley took a deep breath, gritted her teeth and took the first step towards Nathan.

Letting out the breath she'd been holding Haley continued to make her way to Nathan. At first Haley thought she would easily make it to Nathan, then when she was about half way to him she broke out in a cold sweat, pain knifed through her skull, her face throbbing painfully. Haley took another step that had the room spinning wildly around her. Then she felt herself falling.

When Haley was about half way across the room, Nathan saw her loose every scrap on colour on her face besides the bruises and sway slightly and take a header towards the floor.

Both Nathan and Lucas sprung quickly into action with Nathan getting to her first and catching her before she slid to the floor.

Nathan lifted her up in his arms and strode towards the bed laying her gently down.

"Shit Nate I tried to tell you this was a bad idea." Lucas told his brother angrily.

"Like I could have stopped her, you know what she's like once she sets her mind to something." Nathan snapped back at Lucas.

"Yeah but it was your fucking stupid idea in the first place." Lucas said.

"How else was I supposed to convince her she wasn't well enough to go to school?" Nathan asked.

"Can you two please stop yelling, I'm right here you know." Haley moaned from the bed.

"Are you ok Hales?" Lucas asked softly moving to sit down on the bed next to her.

"Just fabulous thanks." Haley bit out sarcastically.

Any further discussion was interrupted by the alarm going off on Nathan's cell phone.

"Time for another pain pill Hales." Nathan told her as he moved to where he'd left her pills. After shaking out two pills and grabbing a glass of water Nathan walked around the bed and handed them to a surly Haley.

Haley begrudgingly took the pain pills and did her best to glare at Nathan, a hard feat with one eye swollen shut, but she gave it her best shot.

Nathan sighed at the hostility coming at him from Haley. It was fair to say that she was pissed at him. He wasn't sure what pissed her off more, the fact that he'd goaded her into facing the fact that she was not 'fine' or the fact that she had to stay home from school, because Haley hated being proven wrong almost as much as she hated missing school.

Not that he was sorry about the whole thing. Because he wasn't, he knew the only way she'd willingly stay home from school was if she was forced to admit she wasn't up to it.

Brooke Davis came flying through the font door of the Scott house they way she went though life, with energy and determination. Certain that Haley was in need of some female company and food after being stuck with the Jackass, aka Nathan Scott for most of last night, Brooke made her way quickly upstairs to Haley's bedroom, only slightly surprised to find both Scott brothers in there with her.

"Morning Tutorgirl, Broody, Jackass." Brooke said sweetly as she entered the room with a flourish.

"Hey Tigger…."

"Morning Pretty Girl….."

"Little Red Riding Hood…."

"Good one Nate, but in case you didn't notice I'm wearing pink not red." Brooke said rolling her eyes at her boyfriend's brother. Then she noticed the surly look on Haley's bruised and battered face and the tension in the room.

"What did you do?" Brooke asked both brothers accusingly pointing her finger first at Nathan then at Lucas.

"What makes you think we did anything?" Nathan grumbled defensively.

"Because _you_ usually have." Brooke retorted, glaring at Nathan.

"Not to be rude Brooke but what the hell are you doing here just after seven in the morning?" Nathan asked

"Oh I know you don't mean to be rude Nate, it just comes naturally. But to answer your question I'm here to rescue Haley from a testosterone overdose." Brooke told him cheerfully.

"Oh and I brought breakfast." She finished waving the basket she was carrying in the air. "So Broody, Jackass you need to leave now. Go lift weights or a run or something." Brooke told the brothers trying to shepherd them out of the room.

"Seeing as your girlfriend wants us out of here Luke, you want to go for a run?" Nathan asked his brother resigned to the fact that Brooke was kicking them out, and thinking that Haley needed a bit of time to cool down.

"Sure but didn't you just take a shower?" Lucas asked his brother.

"What? How did you know that? Besides that's not the point. Let's just get out of here." A slightly flustered Nathan said before dragging Lucas out of the room despite his protest at not having kissed his girlfriend good morning yet.

As soon as the boys vacated the room Brooke made herself comfortable on the bed next to Haley.

"Thanks for coming over Tigger." Haley said resting her head on Brooke's shoulder.

"Where else would I be." Brooke asked.

"Now tell me what that boy do?" Brooke asked fiercely.

"Nothing really, he just forced me to see why the Doctor put me on bed rest for the next few days." Haley said with a sigh.

"So I don't have to kick his ass then?" Brooke asked slightly disappointed.

"No. He's actually been really sweet. And before you say anything more, yes I do mean Nathan Scott. He even stayed in here with me last night to make sure I was ok." Haley told her friend.

"Ewwe, you could have told me that before I sat on the bed so I could check for wet patches." Brooke said scrunching up her nose in disgust jumping off the bed and pulling back the sheets

"Brooke…." Haley screeched, then groaned as her head protested at the noise.

"I'm only joking Hales, well kinda, I think we're safe can't see any gross stains. Although this may explain why Hotshot had a shower so early in the morning, bet you my new pair of Jimmy Choo's it was a cold shower." Brooke said with a knowing smirk.

"Brooke I can't believe you just said that." Haley told her friend and would have shaken her head at her friend if moving it didn't hurt so much.

"Oh please at least I didn't comment on what he was probably doing _in_ the shower." Brooke said.

"Oh my god can you pleas stop." Haley replied.

"Ok, ok I get the point lets get you fed before my gorgeous Boyfriend and his _horny_ brother get back from their run." Brooke said deciding to let the subject go and reached for her basket and showed Haley the goodies she brought over.

Haley saw that the basket was full of fresh fruit, muffins and bagels.

"Brooke this is amazing thank you so much for this." Haley said reaching for a chocolate chip muffin, thinking how sweet her friend was.

"Ah it was nothing, Frieda was happy to help. Besides I had to outdo Hotshot after his 'food of the Gods' last night." Brooke said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Haley broke the muffin in half and ate it slowly, not realising how much it would hurt her head and face doing something as simple as chewing, but apparently it did.

"The muffin ok?" Brooke asked noticing Haley just sitting there staring at the muffin.

"Yeah it great, I just didn't realise how much it hurt to chew." Haley told her.

"God I'm sorry I didn't even think about that. Do you want me to get you something else?" Brooke asked annoyed that she didn't think about that possibility.

"Brooke its fine I'll just get some yoghurt or something later." Haley told her.

"Are you sure? I don't mind." Brooke said.

"No, just sit here with me for a while." Haley said.

"So Nathan told be a bit about what happened yesterday, but can you tell me what you remember, because my memory is a little fuzzy. The last think I remember clearly is Damien tripping me over, and trying to get Nathan away so he wouldn't punch him."

"Yeah well Nathan turned to talk to Whitey and you stepped kind of in front of Nathan at the exact moment that Damien swung at Nathan, so instead of hitting Nathan he hit you." Brooke explained.

"What happened next, I mean I know Nathan ended up hitting Damien….." Haley said.

"Well Damien West is a bastard who deserves everything he gets. After he hit you he just stood there smirking. I tried to kick him in the balls but Peyton stopped me. Then he made a couple of smartass comments, one that Nathan heard and Nathan hit him. I actually think he could've killed him if Whitey hadn't have reminded him that you were hurt." Brooke told her.

"What did Damien say?" Haley wanted to know.

"He was just being a dickhead." Brooke told her.

"Brooke what did he say?" Haley asked Brooke again.

"Haley….." Brooke complained

"Brooke just tell me." Haley pleaded.

"Fine, he said that you were the Scott brother's slut and that you deserved that and more, and that he should have hit you harder." Brooke told her reluctantly.

"Did everyone hear him say that?" Haley asked.

"Not everyone. I don't think Nathan heard the first part. I have a feeling if he did Damien would be dead right now." Brooke told her.

"You don't think people will believe his comment about me and Nathan and Lucas do you?" Haley asked Brooke worriedly, sickened by the thought that people may believe Damien's comments, however ridiculous.

"Hales everyone who knows you and Lucas knows you are friends and nothing else. Besides they know also know I'm his girlfriend. You and Nathan is a whole nother story, so I can't be sure on that front. But that fact is that after what Damien did to you yesterday and the trouble you had with him last year no one believes a word he says. Anyway after Turner expelled yesterday you never have to see that sick fucker again." Brooke told Haley.

"And Nathan, did Whitey really talk to Principal Turner for him?" Haley asked wanting to make sure Nathan hadn't down played the trouble he was in.

"Yeah Whitey came to see Lucas yesterday afternoon and from what I could hear the reason Turner had to do something about Nathan was that Damien cried to Mommy and Daddy about being punched by Nathan, so Turner said he was going to suspend him so Mr and Mrs West didn't cause any trouble. Whitey spoke to Turner and apparently they agreed that someone had to be home with you for the next couple of days anyways so that it wouldn't hurt for Nathan to spend a couple of days here with you." Brooke told her.

"Nathan mentioned last night that Principal Turner wants to know if I want to press charges against Damien. I think Nathan want me to. Do you think I should?" Haley asked Brooke.

"Hell yes I do. But it's really not up to me or Nathan or anyone else. What do you want to do?" Brooke asked her.

"I really don't know Brooke." Haley said with a sigh.

"You don't have to make a decision straight away." Brooke assured her.

"Yeah that's what Nathan said." Haley said.

"I will never admit to this, but for once I have to agree with Nathan." Brooke told Haley.

The two girls were still sitting on Haley's bed when Nathan and Lucas came back from their run.

Nathan grabbed an ice pack out of the freezer before heading upstairs to Haley's room.

"Jeeze Nate looking a little hot and bothered maybe you need to have another shower." Brooke said sending Haley a wink.

"Whatever Brooke." Nathan said ignoring her and handing Haley the ice pack.

"Thanks." Haley said placing the pack against her cheek.

Nathan sat on the end of the bed grabbing a muffin from Brooke's basket.

"Hey they aren't for you." Brooke said making a move towards him to take the muffin off him.

"Don't you need to be heading to school Brooke?" Nathan asked the brunette

"I still have plenty of time." Brooke said. After giving Haley a hug she got up from her spot on the bed.

"Maybe I'll go and join Broody in the shower." Brooke said with a smirk and made to way to the door "Something I know you wish Haley had of done this morning." She whispered to Nathan as she left the room.

Before Lucas and Brooke left for school Haley made them promise to pick up any work they missed from both her and Nathan's teachers and bring home.

With that done Haley, who's pain killers were kicking combined with lack of sleep the night before decided to go back to sleep while Nathan decided not to tempt fate and headed down stairs to watch tv.

It was some time later when Haley woke up, luckily this time it was hunger and not pain that woke her up. Unfortunately Brooke had taken her basket of goodies with her when she'd gone so there was nothing for Haley to eat up here.

After getting out of bed Haley decided she felt a lot better than she had earlier in the morning. Glancing at the clock she saw that it was nearly midday. No wonder she was so hungry she thought, and decided to go down stairs and get something to eat and find Nathan.

Haley made it out of her room with no problems or dizziness which made things easier, but the stairs were another issue altogether.

Grasping the banister she made her way slowly down stair and prayed that she made it down in one piece.

Haley breathed a sigh of relief when she made it to the bottom of the stairs and sank to the step her legs slightly unsteady.

After a couple of minutes she was feeling stronger and stood up heading towards the kitchen. As she walked past the den she saw Nathan in there on the couch, his feet on the coffee table fast asleep with ESPN blaring on the tv and decided to let him sleep.

In the kitchen she opened the fridge and was very pleased when she saw Mac and Cheese sitting on the shelf. Grabbing the container she walked the short distance to the microwave and put it. She sat at the table and waited for it to heat up.

Nathan woke up with a start and realised he must have fallen asleep while he was watch tv. He looked up and saw Haley walking towards him and steaming bowl in her hands.

"Hey." She said as she noticed he was awake.

"Hey. What are you doing down her Hales, you know I would have brought you down if you wanted to come down. Didn't this morning prove anything to you? What if you had of gotten dizzy while you were coming down the stairs huh? You could have fallen and hurt yourself even more." Nathan warned her angrily as he got up and almost dragged to the couch to sit down.

"I was fine until you started yelling at me." Haley told him.

"I'm not…" He yelled. "I'm not yelling." He said in a calmer voice.

"Shit Hales for someone so smart you really do some stupid things." Nathan told her shaking his head.

"I was hungry and I didn't know where you were." Haley said tears filling her eyes.

"Ah man don't cry Hales" Nathan said then sat down next to her on couch, taking the bowl from her and setting in on the coffee table and pulled her to sit on his lap.

"Don't cry. I'm sorry for yelling at you. I was just scared at what could have happened." Nathan told her while stroking her hair softly.

"I'm sorry I made you worry." Haley told him.

Nathan stared at her, his blue gaze taking in her chocolate eyes damp with tears, her teeth worrying her bottom lip, and couldn't stop his hand from moving, his thumb moving along her bottom lip releasing it from her teeth. Nor could he stop the way his breath caught as his head moved towards hers, his lips toward her perfect lips.

Then he heard her breath catch and saw her tongue dart out to moisten her lip, her eyes drift closed and then his mouth was on hers.

Haley felt his lips moving against hers, opening her mouth she felt his tongue sweep into her mouth, then her tongue was tangling with his in long slow strokes.

Nathan moved his hands to frame her face, momentarily forgetting about her injuries.

"Ahhh." Haley all but screamed after wrenching her mouth away from his after his hand hade contact with her injured cheek.

"Shit I'm sorry Hales." Nathan said feeling sick at having hurt her.

"It's ok." Haley said moving off him to sit next to him on the couch.

"No it's not. Here I was worrying about you hurting yourself, then what do I do I hurt you myself." Nathan said sadly, angry at himself for having hurt her.

"Nathan it's really ok. For a moment there I forgot all about my cheek too." Haley told him.

"So are you gonna hit me again?" Nathan asked her.

"Why would it make you feel better?" Haley asked.

"Yeah I think it would." Nathan told her.

"That really wouldn't be fair." Haley said

"Why?" Nathan asked

"Because I wanted you to kiss me." Haley told him honestly.

"You did huh?" He asked with a smirk.

"Maybe."

"Eat your Mac and Cheese." He told her retrieving her bowl from the table and handing it to her.

"Do you want to watch tv for a bit?" Nathan asked as he put a bit of distance between them.

"I think that would make my head hurt. How about you just sit here with me and keep me company." Haley asked.

"Ok I can do that." Nathan said as he sat in one of the arm chairs.

"I meant sit here on the couch with me Nathan." Haley told him.

"I don't think that's such a good idea right now." Nathan told her.

"Why not are you worried you can't keep your hands to yourself?" Haley asked with a smirk.

"It's not my hands you should be worried about right now Hales." Nathan told her.

****

AN: So sorry about the huge delay!!!

Hope you liked this chapter.

Please let me know what you thought and review!!

Thanks Lauraxx

CHAPTER TITLE: Is named after an album and the lyrics from a song by Bright Eyes.


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